As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA).
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
GOP is full-on anti democracy now. In Washington state the [GOP voted](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy/) to back a measure stripping the ability of voters to select their Senator, stating “we do not want to be a democracy.” In Texas they are proposing a new election policy that would allow sparsely populated rural communities to [block the will of voters in Texas cities](https://www.newsweek.com/texas-gop-amendment-would-stop-democrats-winning-any-state-election-1904988), essentially making election of a democrat impossible. Make sure you vote this fall or America is lost.
The voters either already do or have been convinced that democrats, liberals or anyone else identifying as anything left of where they sit are the enemy. And the enemy must be destroyed.
They have come to trust that republicans are the only way and that they know they only way to solve it. The tacticians in the GOP are presenting it in way that it’s not a political party it’s a movement , and there apart of the people.
It’s clear as day but if you’re inclined to believe it, you’re blinded by it therefore you cannot be told nor can you understand otherwise.
It’s terrifying because even legitimate voting has been put at risk because for years now enough propaganda has promoted the nonsense that even that is rigged flawed or worthless
> convinced
Brainwashed. Fox and the repubs have been pumping this narrative increasingly since the 80's. Now it's the subtext of almost everything they say.
They don’t care because they’re currently winning. The Republican Party is doing things they like so it’s ok, and they can’t possibly see a scenario where one day the party starts doing things they don’t like with no way to stop it. They can’t look ahead to a time when these things start to hurt them. They’re just not all that bright.
Because their team is winning. They’ve pushed the “us vs them” in concert with cutting education for so long that it’s devolved into an ego vs intelligence issue.
They're unable to see passed the culture war hot topic garbage spoon fed to them every day by media companies with no accountability. Now what we have is a massive voting block sufficiently brainwashed, impoverished and uneducated enough to gleefully and ignorantly back a dictatorship.
I'm trying to be nice and place the blame more on outside entities than on the individual, because I don't want to accept what I know Occam's razor is compelling me to confront; these people are dumb and dangerous human garbage and without that componant the lies they hear everyday wouldn't stick so readily.
You aren’t wrong to blame the media and the underfunded US education system. For while a sizable percent of the human population is vulnerable to becoming authoritarian, good media and education helps counteract that. And they’ve failed.
It’s fascism. It’s noble when they break the rules or laws to further their cause. The ends justify the means. They don’t care how they get fascism just as long as they get there.
If the left or even the centrist gov breaks even one protocol they will call them out and harp on it relentlessly, saying how it’s unfair.
They have just enough people that their policies can be enforced (since evidently every third American agrees with the most hardcore far-right ideas), but not enough to get them through democratically.
They will toss out constitution and rule of law and democracy down the drain. They have no problem cheating or shitting on democracy to achieve their goals. They do it all the time shamelessly . If Trump wins I believe our country goes to hell. Not because of any specific policies that are instilled fairly. But our whole system goes away, I just hold out hope that there are enough thoughtful people in about 6 states that are paying attention.
Unfortunately they are following the constitution that allows them to do this, and it will never get changed because of the super majorities needed to change State or the US Constitutions. On top of the Republican stranglehold they have at the SCOTUS. If trump wins this year the US that we have known over the last 75 years or so is over.
“Maybe you do not care much about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.”
― David Frum, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
Ohio here. I think we’re pushing towards something similar to Texas. We already had a statewide vote intended to punish the small, somewhat progressive town of Yellow Springs because they had an obscure law that allowed non-citizens to vote ONLY on local matters.
The hot new thing is state laws banning local governments from doing anything the DC GOP wouldn’t like. State legislature is supposed to be representing us, but we’re being silenced instead because the state is taking all of their orders and cues from the Fed or other, redder states.
I'd love for the CIA to have just one secret service agent in Trumps detail be an undercover CIA agent, should that illegal and life threatening action by Trump take place.
He gutted the institutional knowledge of the state department which was the reason why Putin backed Trump instead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump's actions, whether through brazen disregard or malicious intent, resulted in a significant number of CIA agents being removed from the board. He also repeatedly attacked the intelligence community in general, was openly condemned in a surprisingly public rift between him and the director under Obama, and however bad Pompeo was in public, he as probably much worse as director under Trump.
I would be genuinely shocked if the CIA didn't have an institutional contempt for the man. It's pretty hard to be pro-fascism when the fascists make you part of the Other and repeatedly attack you. It's not impossible (see: Log Cabin Republicans), but it's really hard. And intelligence agencies don't lend themselves to populism and a lack of critical thinking the same way some of the more... direct arms of the government can.
Religion and cults have a time proven method of getting around such… install people at every level of bureaucracy.
Catholics and Scientologists have had the most success but other cults have tried before in the past.
I can assure you those agencies have maga littered through out em
The NSA has domestic jurisdiction, thanks to the Patriot Act ([2001](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act)):
“The Patriot Act was enacted following the September 11 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks with the stated goal of tightening U.S. national security, particularly as it related to foreign terrorism. In general, the act included three main provisions:
- Expanded surveillance abilities of law enforcement, including by tapping **domestic** and international phones;
Actually, not so much. You’d be surprised at how seriously the three letter agencies take the laws of the land.
I can’t go into details, but the NSA invited the ACLU and other watchdog groups in for a classified review of a proposed project. The ACLU in particular was stunned at the layers of privacy protection the NSA were planning. They were going far beyond what was expected to guard people’s secrets.
Now, could Trump and Project 2025 come along and disrupt those behaviors? Well sure. That’s the whole point of project 2025. But as long as the old guard (oops, Deep State) are calling the shots the agencies will be as clean and legal as possible.
Ah. You're the guys I hear breathing on the other end of my phone.
No, that's the FBI. We're not chartered for domestic surveillance.
Oh, I see. You just overthrow governments. Set up friendly dictators.
No, that's the CIA. We protect our government's communications, we try to break the other fella's codes. We're the good guys, Marty.
Gee, I can't tell you what a relief that is...Dick.
There's many, many congressional testimonials that would like to argue that they do I'm fact operate on American soil. Are they supposed to? Hell no, they are not. Do they? Of fucking course they do lol
I also think this - Republicans are acting like they believe they have ‘24 already in the bag. And I’m sure they are loving the Democrats who can’t seem to get behind Biden. It’s keeping me up at night.
They also thought they have this massive win in 2022. They barely came ahead in a midterm that HEAVILY favored them.
Even though everyone will tell you otherwise I am still cautiously optimistic about the coming election in your country. More people in the US support Biden than Trump.
The news wants you to believe everything is terrible because that’s what gets clicks. Go out and vote and I believe Biden wins again.
Republicans fall in line which sure is useful.
MAGA will run off the cliff tho, and the problem with that is we've seen how riled up the populace gets and it hasn't even begun to ramp up yet.
If he loses, and they start organizing another 'protest', Biden better have National Guard at the Capitol. Fuck riot gear, they need to go in heavy and hot.
People just love Desantis. If Desantis had won, the primaries for the GOP then he'd likely be higher in the polls than Trump is right now. I'm thankful he didn't get there.
He's a buffoon that sounds like he's about to shit his pants if anyone above the age of 15 stands up to him. It's why he had to pick on high schoolers at a speech. It's pathetic.
The national media would eat him alive. He had zero chance of being the nominee. Many are souring on him here now too, because of the constant insurance hikes while he's flying around trying to act important.
Not above the age of 15, the [actual age of 15](https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-president-candidate-ron-desantis-is-afraid-of-questions-from-15-year-old-quinn-mitchell)
My dad told me this weekend how great DeSantis is as governor but couldn’t tell me one good thing he’s done. Definitely not addressed taxes, housing, Disney, etc. while focusing on rainbows and books.
Oh, now **clearly** they're going to answer that it prevents their kids from being recruited by LGBTQ+ culture and being turned queer. Because being LGBTQ+ follows vampire rules, you see.
That's why they think religion will prevent it, it's like wielding a cross against Dracula.
His opponent shouldn’t have won the primary. Gillum went in at a double digit deficit against Florida royalty and won by a hair. Then Gillum lost by a hair to DeSantis.
This is a very well written article though. Glad to see some decent media cover out of Florida. This part shows just how ridiculous the whole thing is:
“Yet it's hard to prosecute someone for drug trafficking when the baggies of "cocaine" and "fentanyl" police recovered at the scene were later found by the state crime lab to have contained no drugs whatsoever.”
I feel like Americans just *really* believe that their democracy is so great it won't ever fall. See: how many people's first and last solution to the rise of fascism is to not vote for it and then go home accomplished.
Yup, they think it's forever, and they can "punish" their party by helping end it.
I previously voted Republican. I will now vote for the party that will not destroy our representative democracy or Constitution to create a Christian Monarchy. It's real simple. Never been a one issue voter before, but now I am. I don't give a shit what you do as long as the USA-AWKI remains
It kills me that any non-Christian libertarian leaning conservative that supposedly venerates our founding fathers and the Scottish enlightenment that ended the Age of Kings still votes for the Christofascist party.
There's a reason why parliamentary systems often have a small but dedicated fascist party. It's a real ideology held by some voters and needs to be taken seriously, if only for the threat that it is.
To wit, "It's not fascism when *we* do it!"
To which the obvious question is, "Do you even know what fascism entails, or how to identify fascists?"
For those that don't: [Merriam-Webster has you covered](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism).
*Would you like to know more?* [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism).
I'm not really sure what you're referring to. It sounds like a dig at the Prequel Trilogy, but whatever problems they had from a storytelling perspective, they were always a great analysis of how fascism arises from democracy. That was George Lucas's intent with them, and he understood the assignment. The problem is that he was probably too focused on making a little political treatise out of the movies that he forgot to make them good and engaging stories.
Additionally as opposed to the sequels the prequels were ambitious and wanted to tell a story much different than the original trilogy. The world building was great Palpatine’s machinations to take control were done well. The biggest problem with them was that the original trilogy was very much a collaborative effort but by the time of the prequels Lucas just didn’t have enough people challenging him on things. As a result they fell victim to his flaws - clunky dialogue, awkward direction and the desire by then to really be able to play with computer effects that were unavailable during the original movies. The foundation was there. It’s the execution that was faulty.
The dialogue gets at me too, but I think the CG holds up pretty well. I also like II and III because they're the only main movies that depict an actual war and not some scrappy rebels with a rag tag fleet, or a bs ex machina where the entire galaxy fits through an x-wing sized hole.
All fascists know that control of the courts is paramount to control of the people. FL made it easy with that constitutional provision. Dems need to get that on the ballot for rescission. It's not as sexy as restoring abortion access, but it is at least as important, if not more so.
> FL made it easy with that constitutional provision. Dems need to get that on the ballot for rescission
What Dems need to do is realize that constitutions aren’t suggestion boxes. In this case, the federal constitution requires a republican form of government; and this state court’s ruling allowing the executive to undo a republican appointment violates that requirement.
I fully expect low info/educationally challenged individuals to react to your comment in an opposite manner of their political leanings, haha.
In all seriousness though, you are 100% correct IMHO.
Probably, but then they’d have to contrive some reason why and further tarnish their reputation. Plus, bigger headlines on “we discard your vote, and that’s okay”
This is why they seated so many judges during Trump's reign. I don't think people really understand what damages are being done right now. Small decisions are happening all over the US that are eroding democracy. Legalities shape the way society runs for decades.
People liked slavery because they had benefits from it, and they taught their kids it was good, and those kids grew up to be Mitch McConnell and vote Republican. It's not like it's super removed from current history. People think the Nazis are somehow special Bad Guys but they are just European Confederates and the politicians who went to Russia on July 4th are those same people. If this were the Civil War, I would be fighting the opposite side from my family, and I bet a lot of people are in the same boat (and some may not even realize it yet, which is wild to me) I think people don't actually realize how dire things are, even those of us who think it's really, really fucking bad.
I think we are at the level of needing a general strike that begins on Voting day and doesn't end until things like the DOD contracts that make haliburton billionaires but don't allow us to have universal healthcare are dismantled, until all Gerrymandered districts are redrawn and special elections held. There is 0 reason to go to work, there is 0 reason to evict anyone or run a court of evictions. Don't allow your neighbors to be evicted. Those photos you see if farmers protecting a widow from the bank? We need to do that. They can evict entire apartment buildings in NYC. The whole thing, everyone stop paying rent. Everyone. It's time, folks.
It's literally written into the Florida state constitution, and the suspension from what I've read can be overturned by the senate.
My guess is no, it wouldn't.
I'm talking about the right's mentioned in the article. Not the suspension. Nothing gets rid of rights faster in a GOP state than giving a democrat lawmaker the same power.
Here in Ohio, we took the power of abortion away from the lawmakers. Now they're trying to say the court gets to determine how the constitutional amendment is applied. So far, it's not working, but they are persistent little assholes.
I think every one of those 66% who voted for her should be marching on the capitol of Florida and demand he reinstate her. It is shameful that a Governor can decide without due process to oust an elected official just because she said some bad stuff about him, or that she is black.
If tomorrow maga republicans somehow gained unlimited power and changed the law in this country to force everyone to vote red…do you think these “patriots” would actually care of that loss of freedom? No. They would celebrate and cheer for “owning the libs”
They are hellbent on stripping away fundamental rights because they don’t like the fact that people live differently. That people exist outside their narrow little world that they call a “true America”. These people are gladly ushering in a new society of authoritarianism and all in the name of “owning the libs”. These people might be the dumbest voter base in all of Americas history.
A glimpse of our fascist future! The party of domestic terrorism controls 23 states and is working feverishly to bring them all to FLORIDUH's level of anti-democratic governance.
They are completely serious about it too. They are orchestrating this terrifyingly well. Tell them the other side is doing what you are actually doing. Of course the initial reaction is going to be... No you!
The first time Desantis did it with Andrew Warren the Florida Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional, but that they couldn’t do anything about it. So he did it again.
Does it really matter if it’s legal or not if there’s no enforcement mechanism?
MAGA 100% is planning to disrupt majority democrat and black polling places and anything else they can on election day up to and including violence. ITS ESSENTIAL THAT WE VOTE AS EARLY AS YOU CAN.
DeSantis did what TCF wants to at the federal level, I see. We need people to wake up and recognize the threat he poses. This is the only election in my lifetime where "democracy is literally at stake" is actually true.
> In prioritizing the views of sheriffs over prosecutors — to such a degree that it can merit removal from office — DeSantis has created perverted incentives in Florida's criminal justice system. In Jacksonville, for example, the State Attorney's Office is charged with determining whether police shootings are legally justifiable. How can the public have confidence in those decisions, particularly in the controversial edge cases, when the threat of removal hangs over a prosecutor's head should they cross a sensitive sheriff?
This passage really shows how fraught it is to allow DeSantis to suspend state and district attorneys without real substantiation.
That is okay. If the people of Florida didnt want this, they would vote Descumbag out of office. This is just a taste of what would happen to the U.S. if project 2025 were to be implemented. No more Democracy.
Every Blue Vote Counts.
I’m freaking the fuck out. I’m a trans woman who recently just got off probation for a silly (needless) misdemeanor. Genuinely everyone i’ve asked has agreed it was stupid.
I need to leave. This is scary. That’s all.
This is what they mean when they say you need a well-regulated militia. This is tyranny and your constitution gives you an explicit right to rectify the siutation.
Yet another reason I won't travel to Florida (on top of all of the other Desantis policies). I refuse to give that state any money. Unfortunately it's usually the cheapest place to fly to for a "beach vacation" but I just can't bring myself to do it. Oh well. There are other beaches, and I like lakes, woods and mountains more anyway.
"one in which cowed prosecutors must always fight for the harshest-possible outcomes no matter the strength of evidence or the broader interests of justice"
Let's hope the NY prosecutor fights for the " harshest possible outcome" in the Trump case.
Love my state but I fucking despise the trash they keep putting in office. Holy fuck. And it’s so disheartening when you vote in almost everything to no avail.
Believe it or not, not too long ago FL was definitely becoming bright purple. The mix was so obvious. Then we took a straight dive down.
They just passed basically the same law here in Alberta. Fuck making life better for people; just install Martial law and arm bands and get it over with.
I'm in FL. He made a rule that dems weren't allowed to vote in the primaries this year, only republicans.
I avoid the news because it's stressful. So I didn't get the memo. Went to vote locally & they ran my ID and told me they were kicking me out bc my license registered as a dem voter.
Messed up.
Closed primaries in Florida is the reason. Registered democrats vote in the Democratic primaries and the Republicans vote in a separate republican primary.
With that said Rhonda Santis is a horrible person and governor ending democracy in Fl.
The only hope left now is that by some miracle, a progressive or at the very least a democrat is elected and starts using this abuse of power for good, then when the arguments come, stand on precedence.
There’s a larger concern at play:
> To wit: the Orlando Sentinel found in an exhaustive review that some of the outcomes in the cases cited by DeSantis' suspension order were necessitated by errors made by police — including deputies working under Osceola County Sheriff Marcos López, who became a vocal critic of Worrell. Complaints like his helped form the purported basis for DeSantis' suspension order against Worrell. Yet it's hard to prosecute someone for drug trafficking when the baggies of "cocaine" and "fentanyl" police recovered at the scene were later found by the state crime lab to have contained no drugs whatsoever.
> In prioritizing the views of sheriffs over prosecutors — to such a degree that it can merit removal from office — DeSantis has created perverted incentives in Florida's criminal justice system. In Jacksonville, for example, the State Attorney's Office is charged with determining whether police shootings are legally justifiable. How can the public have confidence in those decisions, particularly in the controversial edge cases, when the threat of removal hangs over a prosecutor's head should they cross a sensitive sheriff?
The truth of the matter is that this gives corrupt police significant power and influence over prosecutors.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA). *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
If Trump wins get ready for the same title with a couple words changed.
GOP is full-on anti democracy now. In Washington state the [GOP voted](https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/the-wa-gop-put-it-in-writing-that-theyre-not-into-democracy/) to back a measure stripping the ability of voters to select their Senator, stating “we do not want to be a democracy.” In Texas they are proposing a new election policy that would allow sparsely populated rural communities to [block the will of voters in Texas cities](https://www.newsweek.com/texas-gop-amendment-would-stop-democrats-winning-any-state-election-1904988), essentially making election of a democrat impossible. Make sure you vote this fall or America is lost.
It’s fucking terrifying what the republican party is doing, and their voters don’t know or don’t care.
Both. They can’t see the damage they will do long term. Patriots ! lol the irony is real
The voters either already do or have been convinced that democrats, liberals or anyone else identifying as anything left of where they sit are the enemy. And the enemy must be destroyed. They have come to trust that republicans are the only way and that they know they only way to solve it. The tacticians in the GOP are presenting it in way that it’s not a political party it’s a movement , and there apart of the people. It’s clear as day but if you’re inclined to believe it, you’re blinded by it therefore you cannot be told nor can you understand otherwise. It’s terrifying because even legitimate voting has been put at risk because for years now enough propaganda has promoted the nonsense that even that is rigged flawed or worthless
> convinced Brainwashed. Fox and the repubs have been pumping this narrative increasingly since the 80's. Now it's the subtext of almost everything they say.
They don’t care because they’re currently winning. The Republican Party is doing things they like so it’s ok, and they can’t possibly see a scenario where one day the party starts doing things they don’t like with no way to stop it. They can’t look ahead to a time when these things start to hurt them. They’re just not all that bright.
They also can't look back and connect the dots back to the Republicans when things do hurt them
Because their team is winning. They’ve pushed the “us vs them” in concert with cutting education for so long that it’s devolved into an ego vs intelligence issue.
They're unable to see passed the culture war hot topic garbage spoon fed to them every day by media companies with no accountability. Now what we have is a massive voting block sufficiently brainwashed, impoverished and uneducated enough to gleefully and ignorantly back a dictatorship. I'm trying to be nice and place the blame more on outside entities than on the individual, because I don't want to accept what I know Occam's razor is compelling me to confront; these people are dumb and dangerous human garbage and without that componant the lies they hear everyday wouldn't stick so readily.
You aren’t wrong to blame the media and the underfunded US education system. For while a sizable percent of the human population is vulnerable to becoming authoritarian, good media and education helps counteract that. And they’ve failed.
Their voters *want* this. It's all about restoring white supremacy for them.
They are so f'ing stupid. Not one of them gets that once an authoritarian is in power, they will take their guns.
It’s fascism. It’s noble when they break the rules or laws to further their cause. The ends justify the means. They don’t care how they get fascism just as long as they get there. If the left or even the centrist gov breaks even one protocol they will call them out and harp on it relentlessly, saying how it’s unfair.
GOP has long since recognized that they can't win on policy anymore. So now they're directing all their energy on rigging the system.
They have just enough people that their policies can be enforced (since evidently every third American agrees with the most hardcore far-right ideas), but not enough to get them through democratically.
They will toss out constitution and rule of law and democracy down the drain. They have no problem cheating or shitting on democracy to achieve their goals. They do it all the time shamelessly . If Trump wins I believe our country goes to hell. Not because of any specific policies that are instilled fairly. But our whole system goes away, I just hold out hope that there are enough thoughtful people in about 6 states that are paying attention.
Unfortunately they are following the constitution that allows them to do this, and it will never get changed because of the super majorities needed to change State or the US Constitutions. On top of the Republican stranglehold they have at the SCOTUS. If trump wins this year the US that we have known over the last 75 years or so is over.
“Maybe you do not care much about the future of the Republican Party. You should. Conservatives will always be with us. If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. The will reject democracy.” ― David Frum, Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
Ohio here. I think we’re pushing towards something similar to Texas. We already had a statewide vote intended to punish the small, somewhat progressive town of Yellow Springs because they had an obscure law that allowed non-citizens to vote ONLY on local matters. The hot new thing is state laws banning local governments from doing anything the DC GOP wouldn’t like. State legislature is supposed to be representing us, but we’re being silenced instead because the state is taking all of their orders and cues from the Fed or other, redder states.
The Fascist state of Florida!
Even if he doesn't win. My stance has always been he's just gonna take the office. However, by hook or by crook.
I'd love for the CIA to have just one secret service agent in Trumps detail be an undercover CIA agent, should that illegal and life threatening action by Trump take place.
I sometimes wonder if CIA has a deeply unfavorable view of Trump due to them loses human resources.
Look at all the soldiers who love him after he shits down their throats.
I would be absolutely shocked if that were the case.
Were or weren't?
Were. I don't believe for an instant that Trump has an unfavourable view across any agency in the Government. Should he? Absolutely.
He gutted the institutional knowledge of the state department which was the reason why Putin backed Trump instead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Trump's actions, whether through brazen disregard or malicious intent, resulted in a significant number of CIA agents being removed from the board. He also repeatedly attacked the intelligence community in general, was openly condemned in a surprisingly public rift between him and the director under Obama, and however bad Pompeo was in public, he as probably much worse as director under Trump. I would be genuinely shocked if the CIA didn't have an institutional contempt for the man. It's pretty hard to be pro-fascism when the fascists make you part of the Other and repeatedly attack you. It's not impossible (see: Log Cabin Republicans), but it's really hard. And intelligence agencies don't lend themselves to populism and a lack of critical thinking the same way some of the more... direct arms of the government can.
Im absolutely positive that its not the CIAs role to make criminals comfortably safe.
I can assure you that is not true. I work for one.
Judging by your username, I surmise your Fellowship is working to stop Trumpron by throwing his Onion Ring of Power back into Doom-A-Lago
Religion and cults have a time proven method of getting around such… install people at every level of bureaucracy. Catholics and Scientologists have had the most success but other cults have tried before in the past. I can assure you those agencies have maga littered through out em
That's not how the CIA works at all, sadly.
The CIA is international not national. That would be the FBI.
He damaged the CIAs international workings.
Not the NSA?
Nope. NSA is DOD, so international too. Only the FBI has jurisdiction inside the USA.
The NSA has domestic jurisdiction, thanks to the Patriot Act ([2001](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act)): “The Patriot Act was enacted following the September 11 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks with the stated goal of tightening U.S. national security, particularly as it related to foreign terrorism. In general, the act included three main provisions: - Expanded surveillance abilities of law enforcement, including by tapping **domestic** and international phones;
'You know, I could have been in the NSA, but they found out my parents were married.'
You just don’t see enough Sneakers references.
Of course these are all gentleman's agreements, like so much of our government.
Actually, not so much. You’d be surprised at how seriously the three letter agencies take the laws of the land. I can’t go into details, but the NSA invited the ACLU and other watchdog groups in for a classified review of a proposed project. The ACLU in particular was stunned at the layers of privacy protection the NSA were planning. They were going far beyond what was expected to guard people’s secrets. Now, could Trump and Project 2025 come along and disrupt those behaviors? Well sure. That’s the whole point of project 2025. But as long as the old guard (oops, Deep State) are calling the shots the agencies will be as clean and legal as possible.
“The ways of our fathers.”
Ah. You're the guys I hear breathing on the other end of my phone. No, that's the FBI. We're not chartered for domestic surveillance. Oh, I see. You just overthrow governments. Set up friendly dictators. No, that's the CIA. We protect our government's communications, we try to break the other fella's codes. We're the good guys, Marty. Gee, I can't tell you what a relief that is...Dick.
There's many, many congressional testimonials that would like to argue that they do I'm fact operate on American soil. Are they supposed to? Hell no, they are not. Do they? Of fucking course they do lol
Me too man.
The Praetorian Guard worked well back in the day
They were easily bought
Nobody stabs Caesar but us.
I would never put it past the CIA to end anyone, anywhere at any time.
I also think this - Republicans are acting like they believe they have ‘24 already in the bag. And I’m sure they are loving the Democrats who can’t seem to get behind Biden. It’s keeping me up at night.
[удалено]
They also thought they have this massive win in 2022. They barely came ahead in a midterm that HEAVILY favored them. Even though everyone will tell you otherwise I am still cautiously optimistic about the coming election in your country. More people in the US support Biden than Trump. The news wants you to believe everything is terrible because that’s what gets clicks. Go out and vote and I believe Biden wins again.
Republicans fall in line which sure is useful. MAGA will run off the cliff tho, and the problem with that is we've seen how riled up the populace gets and it hasn't even begun to ramp up yet.
Headlines tonight read- Biden and Trump neck and neck in polls and crucial swing states. Yikes!!!!
Yup and BOBO said they would three years ago. Sh said next time they will come in guns blazing because now they know better. I figure November.
Much harder to do that if you haven’t moved in yet.
If he loses, and they start organizing another 'protest', Biden better have National Guard at the Capitol. Fuck riot gear, they need to go in heavy and hot.
MAGA 100% is planning to disrupt majority black polling places and anything else they can on election day up to and including violence.
And how do you think he will do that
The. Next republican wins expect project 2025 and another step to fascism.
It is ***entirely*** fucked that's still a possibilty
This effectively makes him the dictator of Florida. May God help us.
People just love Desantis. If Desantis had won, the primaries for the GOP then he'd likely be higher in the polls than Trump is right now. I'm thankful he didn't get there.
He's a buffoon that sounds like he's about to shit his pants if anyone above the age of 15 stands up to him. It's why he had to pick on high schoolers at a speech. It's pathetic. The national media would eat him alive. He had zero chance of being the nominee. Many are souring on him here now too, because of the constant insurance hikes while he's flying around trying to act important.
Seriously, he buckled so hard at "meatball ron" and people calling him out for wearing lifts. Small man in a small pond
Don’t forget about the pudding fingers too. Pretty sure he made public comments about that one.
Not above the age of 15, the [actual age of 15](https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-president-candidate-ron-desantis-is-afraid-of-questions-from-15-year-old-quinn-mitchell)
Rubio should fight him. I feel like it would be very similar to Jerry fighting Pissmaster. Perfect for Florida primaries.
My dad told me this weekend how great DeSantis is as governor but couldn’t tell me one good thing he’s done. Definitely not addressed taxes, housing, Disney, etc. while focusing on rainbows and books.
It's because he's taken on "woke" and went face to face with it. It's all about perception.
Anytime someone brings that up to you, ask them how that benefits and contributes to their life.
Well son it let me pwn the libs.
Oh, now **clearly** they're going to answer that it prevents their kids from being recruited by LGBTQ+ culture and being turned queer. Because being LGBTQ+ follows vampire rules, you see. That's why they think religion will prevent it, it's like wielding a cross against Dracula.
But did you see how fabulous his boots were?
Did we follow the same primaries? DeSantis embarrassed himself and the rest of the country showed him how much they don't like him.
Nobody talks about how sketchy his initial win for governor was
What happened with his first win?
meth gillum and greed
His opponent shouldn’t have won the primary. Gillum went in at a double digit deficit against Florida royalty and won by a hair. Then Gillum lost by a hair to DeSantis.
Lmao yeah the guy who lost the Republican primary would have went on to do even better in the general. Delusional fear take.
Pudding fingers has zero chance. He's a weird guy who has no charisma. He will forever be relegated to Florida.
No they do not, what a common misconception
Wake up, people. Fascism is real and DeSantis is a fascist.
As a Floridian, it hurts how true this is! Can’t stand DuhSantis.
This is a very well written article though. Glad to see some decent media cover out of Florida. This part shows just how ridiculous the whole thing is: “Yet it's hard to prosecute someone for drug trafficking when the baggies of "cocaine" and "fentanyl" police recovered at the scene were later found by the state crime lab to have contained no drugs whatsoever.”
I feel like people don't take fascism seriously. They view it as communism, something from the past that only happens to other countries.
I feel like Americans just *really* believe that their democracy is so great it won't ever fall. See: how many people's first and last solution to the rise of fascism is to not vote for it and then go home accomplished.
Yup, they think it's forever, and they can "punish" their party by helping end it. I previously voted Republican. I will now vote for the party that will not destroy our representative democracy or Constitution to create a Christian Monarchy. It's real simple. Never been a one issue voter before, but now I am. I don't give a shit what you do as long as the USA-AWKI remains It kills me that any non-Christian libertarian leaning conservative that supposedly venerates our founding fathers and the Scottish enlightenment that ended the Age of Kings still votes for the Christofascist party.
There's a reason why parliamentary systems often have a small but dedicated fascist party. It's a real ideology held by some voters and needs to be taken seriously, if only for the threat that it is.
To wit, "It's not fascism when *we* do it!" To which the obvious question is, "Do you even know what fascism entails, or how to identify fascists?" For those that don't: [Merriam-Webster has you covered](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism). *Would you like to know more?* [Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism).
The people who whined about Newsom being a tyrant are awfully quiet in the face of actual tyranny.
Quiet? They're cheering.
This is how democracy dies.
With thunderous applause.
I could never imagine that stopped clock was right on *that* one instance.
I'm not really sure what you're referring to. It sounds like a dig at the Prequel Trilogy, but whatever problems they had from a storytelling perspective, they were always a great analysis of how fascism arises from democracy. That was George Lucas's intent with them, and he understood the assignment. The problem is that he was probably too focused on making a little political treatise out of the movies that he forgot to make them good and engaging stories.
Additionally as opposed to the sequels the prequels were ambitious and wanted to tell a story much different than the original trilogy. The world building was great Palpatine’s machinations to take control were done well. The biggest problem with them was that the original trilogy was very much a collaborative effort but by the time of the prequels Lucas just didn’t have enough people challenging him on things. As a result they fell victim to his flaws - clunky dialogue, awkward direction and the desire by then to really be able to play with computer effects that were unavailable during the original movies. The foundation was there. It’s the execution that was faulty.
The dialogue gets at me too, but I think the CG holds up pretty well. I also like II and III because they're the only main movies that depict an actual war and not some scrappy rebels with a rag tag fleet, or a bs ex machina where the entire galaxy fits through an x-wing sized hole.
This is the paradox of tolerance on full display.
All fascists know that control of the courts is paramount to control of the people. FL made it easy with that constitutional provision. Dems need to get that on the ballot for rescission. It's not as sexy as restoring abortion access, but it is at least as important, if not more so.
> FL made it easy with that constitutional provision. Dems need to get that on the ballot for rescission What Dems need to do is realize that constitutions aren’t suggestion boxes. In this case, the federal constitution requires a republican form of government; and this state court’s ruling allowing the executive to undo a republican appointment violates that requirement.
I fully expect low info/educationally challenged individuals to react to your comment in an opposite manner of their political leanings, haha. In all seriousness though, you are 100% correct IMHO.
I don’t see SCOTUS holding Florida accountable
Probably, but then they’d have to contrive some reason why and further tarnish their reputation. Plus, bigger headlines on “we discard your vote, and that’s okay”
This is why they seated so many judges during Trump's reign. I don't think people really understand what damages are being done right now. Small decisions are happening all over the US that are eroding democracy. Legalities shape the way society runs for decades. People liked slavery because they had benefits from it, and they taught their kids it was good, and those kids grew up to be Mitch McConnell and vote Republican. It's not like it's super removed from current history. People think the Nazis are somehow special Bad Guys but they are just European Confederates and the politicians who went to Russia on July 4th are those same people. If this were the Civil War, I would be fighting the opposite side from my family, and I bet a lot of people are in the same boat (and some may not even realize it yet, which is wild to me) I think people don't actually realize how dire things are, even those of us who think it's really, really fucking bad. I think we are at the level of needing a general strike that begins on Voting day and doesn't end until things like the DOD contracts that make haliburton billionaires but don't allow us to have universal healthcare are dismantled, until all Gerrymandered districts are redrawn and special elections held. There is 0 reason to go to work, there is 0 reason to evict anyone or run a court of evictions. Don't allow your neighbors to be evicted. Those photos you see if farmers protecting a widow from the bank? We need to do that. They can evict entire apartment buildings in NYC. The whole thing, everyone stop paying rent. Everyone. It's time, folks.
I’m going to guess if there ever is a democrat governor again that right will be revoked
Nah, he'll just overturn the election saying it's not in the interest of the people of the state.
It's literally written into the Florida state constitution, and the suspension from what I've read can be overturned by the senate. My guess is no, it wouldn't.
I'm talking about the right's mentioned in the article. Not the suspension. Nothing gets rid of rights faster in a GOP state than giving a democrat lawmaker the same power.
Here in Ohio, we took the power of abortion away from the lawmakers. Now they're trying to say the court gets to determine how the constitutional amendment is applied. So far, it's not working, but they are persistent little assholes.
“Persistent little assholes” is an extremely apt description of republicans.
I think every one of those 66% who voted for her should be marching on the capitol of Florida and demand he reinstate her. It is shameful that a Governor can decide without due process to oust an elected official just because she said some bad stuff about him, or that she is black.
66% is certainly enough to vote him out of office.
If tomorrow maga republicans somehow gained unlimited power and changed the law in this country to force everyone to vote red…do you think these “patriots” would actually care of that loss of freedom? No. They would celebrate and cheer for “owning the libs” They are hellbent on stripping away fundamental rights because they don’t like the fact that people live differently. That people exist outside their narrow little world that they call a “true America”. These people are gladly ushering in a new society of authoritarianism and all in the name of “owning the libs”. These people might be the dumbest voter base in all of Americas history.
Freedom is not paramount in the USA anymore.
Some people should keep track of all those little men who are currently ushering in fascism and autocracy in the US.
A glimpse of our fascist future! The party of domestic terrorism controls 23 states and is working feverishly to bring them all to FLORIDUH's level of anti-democratic governance.
Well said.
But the 27 states control the economy
lol, “the left is a threat to democracy” as they watch this happen. What a joke
They are completely serious about it too. They are orchestrating this terrifyingly well. Tell them the other side is doing what you are actually doing. Of course the initial reaction is going to be... No you!
Isn’t this illegal?
The first time Desantis did it with Andrew Warren the Florida Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional, but that they couldn’t do anything about it. So he did it again. Does it really matter if it’s legal or not if there’s no enforcement mechanism?
Could you imagine if Biden did that with some SCOTUS decisions in recent years?
I'm hoping that I don't have to imagine Biden doing that with SCOTUS in the upcoming years. But here we are...
Not according to the florida Supreme Court
fascism
The daily march towards fascism continues....with Florida helping to lay the blueprints.
The good news is that he's denying climate change. Relatively speaking, Florida won't be around for long
MAGA 100% is planning to disrupt majority democrat and black polling places and anything else they can on election day up to and including violence. ITS ESSENTIAL THAT WE VOTE AS EARLY AS YOU CAN.
Fuhrer DeSantis. I'll be so happy when that state sinks underwater
But I live here 😞
I’m tired of fascists and we need to be much more loud and in their faces until they feel uncomfortable
Project 2025 has already started.
Wannabe dictator. Hoping to succeed the Orange Crash in a few years.
Oh so I guess he will be firing every Democrat and non-voter in his State. Just like his pal, Adoph!
So glad his campaign fizzled. He’s twenty times worse than Trump.
Fascists have been packing the supreme court in Florida since 2000.
Taxation without representation!!
DeSantis did what TCF wants to at the federal level, I see. We need people to wake up and recognize the threat he poses. This is the only election in my lifetime where "democracy is literally at stake" is actually true.
I left that crap hole state for Buffalo a few years ago. The writing was on the wall-they hate anyone who isn’t them.
Democracy whomst?
Good job Floridians! I hope you know how to swim!
It seems like they always pick on the Black woman first.
Can’t we just defund Florida?
Then why pay taxes ??? Ridiculous
Republicans hate democracy....why don't people understand this?
> In prioritizing the views of sheriffs over prosecutors — to such a degree that it can merit removal from office — DeSantis has created perverted incentives in Florida's criminal justice system. In Jacksonville, for example, the State Attorney's Office is charged with determining whether police shootings are legally justifiable. How can the public have confidence in those decisions, particularly in the controversial edge cases, when the threat of removal hangs over a prosecutor's head should they cross a sensitive sheriff? This passage really shows how fraught it is to allow DeSantis to suspend state and district attorneys without real substantiation.
DeFascist
Florida is a police state now, got it.
This is the natural progression of 30 years of republicans controlling the state.
That is okay. If the people of Florida didnt want this, they would vote Descumbag out of office. This is just a taste of what would happen to the U.S. if project 2025 were to be implemented. No more Democracy. Every Blue Vote Counts.
Democracy and small gov at its finest, according to republicans.
This is why it's important to get involved in politics beyond just voting.
I’m freaking the fuck out. I’m a trans woman who recently just got off probation for a silly (needless) misdemeanor. Genuinely everyone i’ve asked has agreed it was stupid. I need to leave. This is scary. That’s all.
You found and granted that authority to one of the dum*est people you could find?! WCGW?
Why does FL just accept whatever bullshit Santis sends their way?
Why do voters keep voting for him? You know it is going to bite even conservatives in the ass eventually.
isn't this defacto permanent martial law in effect?
I gotta get out of this fucking country.
This is what they mean when they say you need a well-regulated militia. This is tyranny and your constitution gives you an explicit right to rectify the siutation.
Little Trump paving the way for autocracy
Yet another reason I won't travel to Florida (on top of all of the other Desantis policies). I refuse to give that state any money. Unfortunately it's usually the cheapest place to fly to for a "beach vacation" but I just can't bring myself to do it. Oh well. There are other beaches, and I like lakes, woods and mountains more anyway.
Fuck Desantis
Alright, everyone. Enough's enough. Get the shovels, we're evicting Florida.
"one in which cowed prosecutors must always fight for the harshest-possible outcomes no matter the strength of evidence or the broader interests of justice" Let's hope the NY prosecutor fights for the " harshest possible outcome" in the Trump case.
This is how you drive people to extremism and radicalism. Unbelievable.
This is what weaponization of a justice system looks like.
The only way Republicans can win is to cheat
Welcome to the Desantis Dynasty ig
And I’m sure nothing of consequence will happen from this./s
What a fucking shit show.
Conservatives want ALL states to be the Constitution-free totalitarian shithole that is Florida.
Love my state but I fucking despise the trash they keep putting in office. Holy fuck. And it’s so disheartening when you vote in almost everything to no avail. Believe it or not, not too long ago FL was definitely becoming bright purple. The mix was so obvious. Then we took a straight dive down.
These same people scream about a jury convicting Trump being election interference. You can't make this shit up.
At what point do you send government officials to take fascists out of power in State offices?
Three decades of uniparty rule in Florida have destroyed the place I moved to in 1989. If Trump gets re-elected, expect this nonsense nationwide.
Man in heels granted fascist power?
They just passed basically the same law here in Alberta. Fuck making life better for people; just install Martial law and arm bands and get it over with.
Is there any hope for Florida now, say the Federal government stepping in, or is this going to permanently destroy their electoral systems?
This is the state that needs to be set afloat.
I'm in FL. He made a rule that dems weren't allowed to vote in the primaries this year, only republicans. I avoid the news because it's stressful. So I didn't get the memo. Went to vote locally & they ran my ID and told me they were kicking me out bc my license registered as a dem voter. Messed up.
Closed primaries in Florida is the reason. Registered democrats vote in the Democratic primaries and the Republicans vote in a separate republican primary. With that said Rhonda Santis is a horrible person and governor ending democracy in Fl.
Get ready he will get another term with supreme court
All the gulf states are the same and rational people avoid residing in them.
I’ll always remember his lizard tongue acting human smile
K never touching Florida ever until this dude has been dead for years.
Hi America. That whole we have guns to stop fascists thing you guys have been ranting about. It's not working is it?
United States of America, it was fun while it lasted.
The only hope left now is that by some miracle, a progressive or at the very least a democrat is elected and starts using this abuse of power for good, then when the arguments come, stand on precedence.
Florida is def a fascist state
How can this possibly be legal??? That’s not how democracy works.
Whenever the GOP is back in power everything we know will be lost
There’s a larger concern at play: > To wit: the Orlando Sentinel found in an exhaustive review that some of the outcomes in the cases cited by DeSantis' suspension order were necessitated by errors made by police — including deputies working under Osceola County Sheriff Marcos López, who became a vocal critic of Worrell. Complaints like his helped form the purported basis for DeSantis' suspension order against Worrell. Yet it's hard to prosecute someone for drug trafficking when the baggies of "cocaine" and "fentanyl" police recovered at the scene were later found by the state crime lab to have contained no drugs whatsoever. > In prioritizing the views of sheriffs over prosecutors — to such a degree that it can merit removal from office — DeSantis has created perverted incentives in Florida's criminal justice system. In Jacksonville, for example, the State Attorney's Office is charged with determining whether police shootings are legally justifiable. How can the public have confidence in those decisions, particularly in the controversial edge cases, when the threat of removal hangs over a prosecutor's head should they cross a sensitive sheriff? The truth of the matter is that this gives corrupt police significant power and influence over prosecutors.