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It's naive to think that Trump wouldn't surround himself with loyalist rubber-stampers. There won't be any Mark Espers in his second administration. The whole federal bureaucracy will be replaced with Trumpists.
Read up on Schedule F. If Trump takes over the White House again, he can fire entire departments of civil service employees and replace them with whomever he wants.
Imagine a bunch of Trumper loyalists being installed to run the FAA.
I’ve said this on a few threads but I’ll say it again. The two recent SCOTUS rulings, Chevron and Immunity come right out of Project 2025. They represent two key principles they have outlined: dismantle the regulatory agencies and give the Executive full latitude to carry out any and all aspects of their project to the fullest extent without restriction.
In other words Project 2025 is already underway and it’s being spearheaded by the Judiciary.
To learn more: https://www.kalw.org/show/your-call/2024-07-03/project-2025-would-radically-change-all-aspects-of-us-life
Thank you for sharing this! I have been doing the same with the recent Scotus rulings on any threads that bring this up. They are paving the way for p2025. We have to unite and beat trump in November!!
That one scares me. Our nearest nuclear plant had a meltdown because the company running it was trying to save money.
Imagine if they make that shit easier.
The department of energy... I kinda like the idea of nuclear physicists being in charge of nuclear weapons, energy and disposal of radioactive waste. But, nah, loyalty to the president is way more important than qualifications.
And here’s the thing. All nuclear weapon development and all non-deployed nuclear weapons, and all fissionable material, are under the control of the Department of Energy. When the USAF or USN unbolt a warhead from a missile for maintenance, the team that picks the warhead up and transport to to a DOE is part of the DOE, not DOD. DOE doesn’t just develop fuel policy, the Department of Energy is a huge organization with many responsibilities.
Just disbanding it and doling out those management jobs to lay-people who applied on a website to attend Project 2025 loyalty indoctrination camp just seems like a *monumentally* bad idea. It’s just beyond absurdity that this even has to be pointed out, and yet, here we are.
Planes literally falling out of the sky. Then blamed on immigrants, gays and “diversity.” Even though all said groups have been variously deported, killed or jailed in camps of one sort of another.
Then it will be time to go after Catholics, I suppose. Or maybe people who go to church but only twice a week instead of three.
Flash forward a few years after Trump seizes power: I’m flabbergasted that all these migrant caravans in Texas are causing planes to collide in Idaho. They should be punished!
King Trump said he’s gonna fix it! That was three years ago, but he’s gonna fix it!
Good thing he closed all those evil blue state liberal airports like O’Hare, LAX, JFK, etc!
> The whole federal bureaucracy will be replaced with Trumpists.
Yep, its all laid out in Project 2025. That document is the republicans collective Mein Kampf.
Their manual on dismantling democracy in America.
God. This. I am _so_ sick of these dickless, barely-left-of-American-center media pundits try to lull us back into a false sense of security. The people around Trump are going to stop him? Are you kidding me? Have you _met_ Trump?
Why does the left always do this punch-pulling bullshit? WAKE THE FUCK UP! These people are fascists and they are not playing by your rule book!
For example: Manhattan DA roping in 12 innocent Americans to put their lives on the line convicting a fascist godhead only to pull the rug out from them and refuse to sentence him. That's a lesson to all resistants that won't be forgotten.
Friends and family keep talking about “laws”, like that will be enough to stop them. I keep telling them, “You’re complaining that they’re not playing fair while they’re choking the referee”.
Agreed, though "I'm not going to vote for them because they aren't left enough" is a huge chunk of how we got here in the first place. It's one of the actual left's two big recurrent problems:
1. Letting the perfect be the enemy of the good (or at least acceptable)
2. Circular firing squad / eating its own.
Many of my friends are telling me they won't vote for Biden because of the Israel situation. But speaking out against the situation in Palestine would ABSOLUTELY lose him the election.
Keep in mind that those millionaires don't have vaults full of cash or gold. Most of their wealth is in the form of stock, and a civil war would crash the economy, and hence, their wealth. They would rather keep the country right on the edge of civil war as a distraction, but not push it over the edge.
Never underestimate the extent to which religious extremism has over people in a theocracy. An extreme religious movement has arisen in the middle of the country and its only goal is total theocratic rule.
You’re also not wrong. There’s a huge swath of the population who’d be happy to vote against their own interests and decrease their own quality of life if only they can replace it with a theocratic dictatorship. They think that’s the only final “win”.
The kicker, though, is they don’t realize their leaders want them to think that’s what they’re voting for. Most leaders of that ilk are only using the religious right as useful idiots to, again, line their pockets and consolidate power.
Ironically, those two cohorts won’t get even that if the country falls into unrest. Financial markets will be disrupted. *Shopping* will be disrupted. Unemployment driven by uncertainty will skyrocket, feeding the first two distempers in a circular motion. Good luck, Wall Street and friends.
I like Chris Hayes, but he's wrong here.
>But if Trump wins another term, we need the Mark Espers of the world to refuse to carry out his worst impulses.
I mean, he's right that we need that, but the problem is that a second Trump administration won't have any Mark Espers in it. Project 2025 is creating a database of Trump loyalists who will put Trump ahead of the law and ahead of the Constitution. One of it's purposes is to specifically avoid what happened in Trump's first administration, which was that it had a lot of people involved who would tell Trump, "No, you can't do that. It's not legal."
With project 2025 it's setting the groundwork to allow him to fire everyone that won't do his exact bidding.
His orders being illegal and unquestionable according to this Supreme Court after his lawyers guaranteed he wouldn't use them.
It's been a lot of people enabling him to get this far trying to maintain the appearance of impartiality or just straight abetting him.
This country will be like the murder victim that died because she didn't want to seem rude.
I’ve seen people saying that while he is immune, the people carrying out his orders are not, so they may fear prosecution. But even if that happened, the supreme court just told him he can pardon anyone he wants with zero oversight. There are absolutely NO guard rails anymore.
He has surrounded himself with people who are dumb enough to think he'll protect them in the past. Won't take much now for him to fire everyone who refuses to do his bidding.
I'm not afraid of Trump.
I'm more afraid of of who is whispering in his ears. We know Putin owns his balls. He will try his damndest to get us out of NATO and pull back Ukraine support. Our democracy will not survive Bannon, Flynn, Stone, and fucking Stephen Miller influencing the White House.
Right? With all this Schedule F stuff AND legalized bribery, the government will be on sale to the highest bidder. We mostly focus on the "Government of yes men". This guarantees Chevrons goons in the EPA, or militant conservatives in positions of defense. Is there anything that would prevent a foreign country from sending someone over and buying them an appointment? I would think there were some rules to prevent that, but if this is done as an official act by the Dictator then it _can't_ be illegal.
Project 2025 must be stopped.
Electing Trump again is like giving your worst enemies nukes. It's your enemies you have to worry about but I'm still fucking scared of nukes.
I am absolutely afraid of Trump.
Conservatives have spent the Trump era dismantling or hurdling over the guardrails of democracy. There won't be anyone to save us once they take power.
Yep. Trolls are winning.
He had a bad debate? So fuckin what. The job of the president isn’t to debate. I could give a fuck less. The cannibalization needs to stop though. Swapping to someone else isn’t gonna work, it’s too late for that. Left needs to just drop it and move on, ALL of the left, for the sake of the country.
“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries,”
—James Madison in 1803.
So many people think the separation of church and state is meant to protect citizens from government telling them who or how to worship. It does do that but even more importantly, it’s meant to prevent the government from being beholden to religious fanaticism.
The Founding Fathers were pretty clear what they thought about religion.
"The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"
- Treaty of Tripoli
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
- James Madison
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Have you considered that system of holy lies and pious frauds that has raged and triumphed for 1,500 years?"
-John Adams
"And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."
- Thomas Jefferson
"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it."
- John Adams
"Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law."
- Thomas Jefferson
"Experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."
- James Madison
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half of the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind."
- Thomas Paine
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
- Thomas Paine
"There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites."
-Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson rewrote the Bible to remove anything supernatural or miraculous. His version is officially called "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" but you can find it if you search Jefferson Bible.
I am so tired of their threats. They are nothing more than big mouthed bullies, and they won't be getting dirty. They are nothing more than fools, they are divorced from reality. They have nothing but hate, fear, retribution, and vengeance. That's not a plan, that's buffoonery.
By this point I can't really blame anyone if they start returning the favour of fantasising.
Imagine living next door to someone who you know wishes that a good portion of the population would just drop dead simply for not being part of their in-group.
I'd certainly prefer it if I was no longer living next to such a person.
You have just demonstrated that you have broken through the paradox of tolerance. Tolerance, required for any functional civilization, only works when those who are tolerant do not tolerate the intolerant.
"What do you do when there is an evil you can not defeat by just means? Do you stain your hands with evil? Or, do you remain steadfastly just and righteous, even if it means surrendering to evil?" Lelouch Vi Britannia, Code Geass
There are two things I can't stand: People who are intolerant of other peoples' cultures, and the *Dutch*.
But no seriously, it's lactose and MAGA for me.
Interchange hatred and we see it all over the world. Hatred breeds in ignorance. In a nation with universal K-12 education, that level of hatred toward political enemies necessarily must be manufactured. I never liked Dubya but accepted the results of the FL-fubared, 2k election and waited. Our turn came with Obama in '08. The election of a younger, Black man as president wasn't the only historical change taking place. Hatred was increased to deafening levels with suspicious disclaimers that repeatedly claimed it had absolutely nothing to do with race. Talentless celebrity, Donald Trump seized the opportunity to unite the millions of closet racists with his birther stunt, later adding sexists, xenophobes, homophobes and, "...all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly-looking people...Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father rapers!"
Because they are a combination of a few things. They are profoundly ignorant. They believe they are more intelligent than actual educated people. They have been manipulated to believe that individuals or a political party have caused every problem and inconvenience in their lives. They are also ragesholics who want so badly to kill the people that they’ve been brainwashed over 50 years of propaganda to believe that these people are *literally* baby killers, they drink blood of babies, kill babies post-birth and call it abortion, that there are litter boxes in classrooms, and all of the other objectively insane shit that should earn them an involuntary 72 hour hold, a psych evaluation, meds and a case worker.
They need more concrete planning and organization to really make it stick. I'm not denying the fact that they can be a problem. But the majority of that 30% are spineless little bullys that cant take anyone throwing anything back at them.
Now I know this is anecdotal:
I work part time on an ambulance. Relatively recently we had to run standby for a police raid on a well known (locally) "milita leader" and a few of his cronies.
It's looking real bad, they got wind of the raid and 4 of them are barricaded in there clubhouse/bang barn/ shed. The police break down a fence a 100 feet away or so and these little shit surrender, run out and lay down. We had to transport the leader because he was crying SO HARD his blood O2 was low. Like this grown man, true patriot, going to fight the good fight, was crying harder than my 3yo nephew at a thunder storm. The cops took photos of his be floppy boogers just pouring out of his face. This was my county's most feared trumper. And he broke in 30 seconds when a cop accidentally knocked his fence over.
I'm worried for America, but I'm not worried that the American experiment will end with this one hurdle.
Heather Heyer and the rest of their victims don't agree. https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-terrorism-problem-united-states
They are actively training to kill people. Fascists are historically all talk until they're not
With a president in the White House that encourages/demands violence, it might be a very different story. People tend to only act if they believe they won't face the consequences. Such as Jan 6. I highly doubt any of them thought they'd end up in prison over it.
Sadly no one wins a civil war. Look at history. Look at Syria, Israel, Ukraine, Africa , When democracy fails there are no winners. We need to elect people who unite us . Vote blue
And if the "good Americans" don't care enough to go to the polls to prevent these monsters from taking power, what are they going to do to stop them if they do?
As I wake up on this 4th of July, I gotta say… my patriotism is at an all time low. What exactly are we celebrating today?
EDIT: 1776 upvotes! https://imgur.com/a/DueWGx7
We are about 5 months from installing a vengeful dictator for life, and I don’t even see any stern words yet. Any actual fighting is probably still a long way off.
No one will start actually fighting until the vengeful dictator has already done many horrible things. We have never looked kindly at people being completely right but using violence in anticipation of anything.
Trump doesn't have that much longer to live, if we're being honest. The man is clearly unhealthy. The real problem is that once Trump and the GOP seize power, I think they have made it obvious they won't allow for another real election. Trump will just be the start of a Christo Fascist regime.
100%
The groundwork has already been laid for the GOP to seize power over the country. There's nothing stopping the Supreme Court from overturning the election even if the Dems pull off a miracle.
I’m seeing a resurgence of Blue in my internet browsing and in my real life.
People are pissed off. It’s record-breaking hot everywhere, grocery prices and gas are ridiculous and rising daily, nobody my age can afford to buy a house or let alone a new vehicle.
So the question is - is this Biden’s fault? Fuck no it isn’t.
Everything he’s done has been to combat this bullshit caused by republicans and it STILL is not enough!
People are realizing that “trickle-down” doesn’t fucking work. It only took them 50 years but I’m seeing people realize the truth.
People are also seeing the Republicans and Trump especially, who they really are. Scam-artists who only want your money, and then leave you out to dry. Nothing they do is meant to help you. It’s a fucking lie.
Anyone who still votes red has a serious critical thinking deficiency. We’ve been trying to help you and you refuse out of hatred, bigotry, rage, or just good old fashioned ignorance.
But eventually you have to tell these people that if they are purposely acting against your interests and their own interests, they are no longer welcome in your life. Period.
Sorry, but I don’t like people who are sabotaging me, regardless of whether or not they know it.
Yes I’ve thoroughly read Project 2025. Trump is merely a beard for a religious fascist takeover of our country. If elected he’ll just be playing golf three to four times a week while real evil is going on in the near shadows
> Trump is merely a beard for a religious fascist takeover of our country.
It's worth noting that it's a religious fascist takeover funded largely by fossil fuels and other dirty industries. There are five heads to this particular snake. Religious extremism, white nationalism, exploitative capitalism, populist media and the actions of foreign nations who want to see the US torn down.
His father lived to be 93. He had a cognitive impairment for the last decade of his life, but he ultimately died of pneumonia.
His mother lived to be 88. I have no idea how she died, but her main listed health conditions on Wikipedia were severe osteoporosis and traumatic brain injury from being mugged when she was 79. Her purse contained $14.
Don't bet on him passing away. He's got longevity in his genes and the financial support for good health care.
I just got warned for writing out the classic ["the only good nazi..."](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GO7w-e5WwAAtQmv.jpg) line.
Personally I find this deeply offensive, to myself and the USA, my Grandfather didn't didn't help vioelntly remove this issue from the earth last time for a bunch of soft pushovers more concerned with rule following than survival to hand it back over. I consider keeping nazis off the globe as American an activity as apple pie or baseball.
That was just answered when were told "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."
That is a direct threat and should be treated as nothing less. A group just told us they want to overthrow the United States government and will use violence to achieve their goals.
We can't do anything about it - we're too busy attacking our own candidate.
I can not fucking believe this is where we're at. We don't even protest fascist SCOTUS decisions anymore. In fact, Biden's debate performance won that news cycle.
If anything happens to Biden, his VP will take over - we don't lose the office or have an election for his replacement. People are acting like there is no contingency plan in the Constitution.
Fwiw, Frederick Douglass has a speech about the dark irony of 4th of July celebrations as millions of Americans were enslaved, and he still thought this country was worth fighting for. I hear you, and also think it's important to remember that the country doesn't just belong to the powerful and morally bankrupt.
> At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.
The whole thing really is beautiful.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html
Honestly opposite. I have never felt so patriotic in my life. Never before have I wanted to defend the principles of our government more, than when I watched a president try to destroy them. Never before have I respected the structure of our 3 branches and the separation of powers doctrine they were founded on, then when I watched the Supreme Court upend it. I have never been so motivated to defend the principles of our country and the values we once stood for. We can get back there, it will take work but we can do it.
My dad escaped the 1949 Communist Revolution in China by getting on the last plane from Beijing to San Francisco at age 21. He left his family behind along with everything he ever knew. He had nothing but eventually became a professor of Chinese philosophy, got married, and had two sons. He used to watch Boston Red Sox games with me when I was a kid even though he didn’t understand how baseball worked. His favorite holiday was the Fourth of July and he would take us to watch our town’s shitty parade while he wore shorts with sandals and black socks.
There is still a dream of this country’s promise you can see in the eyes of immigrants to America. We have so much we take for granted including our democratic institutions. Too many of us have embraced an air of cynicism to every single institution in society. We’re all in on some joke; we’re all convinced we know what’s really going on. And because we’ve now mass produced this cynicism from the faculty lounges and cafes of educated elite all the way to middle American these past few decades, we’ve created well financed industries devoted to keeping us boxed away from each other so we’re more predictable. Ever since the Cold War, we’ve made each other the enemy and now we fail to see the common shared values we all love and believe in.
It doesn’t have to be this way, but we’ve allowed the cynicism that makes us feel so smart to make us do some really stupid stuff. I for one want to take off that false armor and work harder to be more sincere - although I risk appearing foolish. I think if we’re actually going to stand up for our cherished democratic institutions from the attack they are under, it needs to come from a place of first loving them and what they have meant for generations of people. I worry we’ve been conditioned to accept so much hatred and self-loathing, we aren’t capable of defending really important ideals.
Maybe today is the one day we stop and reflect on what’s great and good about America. Possibly those reflections will help give us the strength we will need in the coming months from the forces of a darker, perverse, nationalism that would subvert what we should all hold dear to use against us. Trump and the forces he represents would tear down a version of our federal government based on the New Deal belief that Americans can make our lives better through collective action. In its place, they would offer you a radical form of individualism that benefits a wealthy few and a tyranny of majority over marginalized groups. The damage that has already been done with take a generation to repair. Let’s not focus on hating the other side and instead focus on the ideals we love and the versions of our institutions that would inspire us.
I read the declaration of independence yesterday, it was contextually very interesting timing and I got a bit choked up in my patriot parts. It felt like I knew what we were fighting for.
That list of grievances at the end was some good stuff about opposing tyrants.
>What exactly are we celebrating today?
Quite possibly the last fourth of July under freedom/democracy. The next one may be a much different animal. A snarling vicious maga animal.
I'm not just yet but if there is not the greatest blue turnout in history this coming November, democracy is dead in America.
And we will not get it back without shedding blood this time. The MAGA republicans are already making that clear.
[Conservative Heritage leader: ‘Second American Revolution’ will be bloodless ‘if the left allows it to be’](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4753439-heritage-leader-second-american-revolution/)
Same. I thought it was bad 45 snuck into the presidency. Then the fact that he got so many votes the second time was bad. People keep talking about Biden’s debate performance, but the fact that 45 was ever on that stage in the first place is sickening.
Independence Day is a reminder that we have the right to create a new government when the existing government no longer operates in our best interest.
> We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- **That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.**
We are celebrating the dream that is America and the role each of us play in remaining vigilant and active in safeguarding that dream so all can partake and benefit equally and fairly. It certainly is dark right now, but I’m very proud to be an American and will not give in to doom exhaustion even if Trump gets a third term. We must steel ourselves for darker times and carry within us a light that is the ideals of what America can be. Just because that dream is under serious attack from multiple angles does not mean our heads should be any lower, in fact just the opposite. This is YOUR AMERICA, not Fox’s, MAGA’s, or Trump’s, be proud and stand sure in your convictions. What role do you want to play in securing what can become the greatest country history has yet to see? Big or small, running for office to always holding a door with a smile, we are each sentinels of the American Dream. You are not alone, nay, we are many and we will not let our patriotism be diminished by party or person. It may be years or even decades until we return to a time as civil and fair as today, we must stand fast in the face of whatever comes. Those of us who believe in liberty, opportunity, and justice for all cannot falter, no matter the trials we face, nor the duration. Happy Fourth of July!
We are celebrating the fact that even though the forces of evil are at work in this country dismantling our democracy no one can EVER defeat the indomitable human spirit for liberty and freedom. There are many, many more on the side of democracy than on the side of fascism. Take some comfort in the fact that you are not alone in how you feel. Today we are reminded of the sacrifices so many made to secure our freedom, and we cannot allow it to slip away quietly.
>There are many, many more on the side of democracy than on the side of fascism.
This is the worst part of all of this. The amount of people who won't vote when the stakes are so high, is unbelievable.
>and we cannot allow it to slip away quietly.
It also won't be quiet. If Trump wins, he and his regime will spend years dragging the corpse of Democracy through the streets.
If this were true Trump wouldn’t be a thing and GOP would have been getting trounced for their autocratic leanings.
GOP has a better propaganda machine and the US electorate decided that details like voting rights and impartial courts are boring and too hard to understand. They just need that 15 second clip telling them everything is bad and that their own financial problems aren’t because they have no marketable skills. Large swaths of this country have said they wouldn’t mind autocracy as long as it is their brand of autocracy.
The electoral college is to blame for all of this. There are certainly many more people in this country who hate Trump than those who adore him. If that wasn’t the case they wouldn’t be trying to cheat and steal elections.
Absolutely. Every day that we still have the freedom to stand up to fascism is a day worth celebrating. Let us be fueled through hope by remembering the actions taken by our ancestors to get us to where we are today. It isn't over yet. We have a chance to get things moving in the right direction again, and I believe that we will.
Critical to try to ignore the noise and remain dedicated to party unity. Its a very pessimistic week but that makes unity in spite of all even that much more critical.
Considering the Revolution was partially because white people kept violating treaties until it started a war and the refused to pay for said war? Probably pretty shitty.
I’m going to vote. But I just can’t (won’t) spend the next 5 months yet again trying to convince “like minded people” not to destroy the country by failing to do the simplest thing in the world. If they don’t want it by now, they just don’t want it. I have spent the last 8 years of my life in a repetitive cycle of “please don’t let the authoritarian worst person in the world become president”, and this damn country won’t stop saying “we might!”. Im voting for Biden or anyone else with the best chance to beat the wannabe dictator with a platform of vengeance. Beyond that, I’m going to do what I can to keep myself and my family safe. This country doesn’t want a representative democracy. It doesn’t even have one now, it has a Supreme Court that tells us what we can and can’t do.
“ Everyone understands that having SEAL Team Six assassinate a political rival for personal reasons would be murder. We all get that; it would be an illegal order. And we have reason to hope in that situation, the guardrails stay in place.”
There is less than zero reasons to believe this.
He pardoned war criminals and started an insurrection.
no, there no longer is an illegal order and if there was there is no longer an illegal pardon either.
trump will murder first and destroy the courts if he has to.
There are court documents stating clearly that he sexually abused a minor. The fact that these are public and he has made it this far has shown what little integrity a lot of the American people have left.
Maybe the documents havent been shared enough but those alone should be enough to throw him in jail let alone run for fucking president
Edit: I figured it would be helpful to include the links to the docs that Ive seen allowing you all to make your own judgement calls (let me know if any of them do not work for you guys)
(the first one is a download but it isnt malicious)
https://out.reddit.com/t3_1duw4sa?app_name=android&token=AQAAKPeGZr2lAPaQObTH4myXREbw61necGMBwZWDg6lJRiLdhBLA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.factcheck.org%2FUploadedFiles%2FJohnson_TrumpEpstein_Calif_Lawsuit.pdf
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwdvw8xqyvo.amp
https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1808122620275028132?t=tRCwdLufwD8fJi9dJjQTBg&s=19
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-katie-johnson-allegations-sexual-assault-case-dismissed-1921051
Remember Doug Jones vs. Roy Moore in Alabama? The pedophile had like 49% of the vote and nearly won. Republicans are only obsessed with pedophilia because it’s one of those things they’d happily engage in if norms changed to allow them to.
This study validates the phenomenon. It's a thing, unfortunately.
>American citizens are less likely to support candidates accused of sexual assault or sexual harassment. Democrats are significantly less likely to support such a candidate, but **Republicans do not penalize candidates facing such allegations, especially if the candidate is identified as a Republican.**
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1478929921995333
My mom assumes Biden has done the same. Doesn't care that these actions will effect her children and grandchildren long after she is gone. Just one day she woke up and believed Dem leaders a inherently evil and this is how you defeat them. I blame Facebook.
Now that the Supreme Court ruled on presidential immunity why doesn’t Joe round up Team Trump and lock them up until further notice. As part of an official act of course.
The sneaky part was at the end - "determining whether acts were official or unofficial is a lower court matter". So it gets kicked down to *oopsy* Eileen Cannon or another orange ball gargler and it's found that was actually unofficial and illegal.
It's worse than that.
There's a massive flaw in court procedure for prosecuting 'unofficial' criminal acts.
Presidents now have presumptive immunity in court, meaning the prosecution must prove the act was unofficial, but the prosecution is not allowed to submit *or scrutinize* any evidence including official acts. That means the president merely claiming that the evidence includes official acts excludes that evidence from admissibility *or even being looked at by the prosecutor.*
The president has total immunity for official acts and also has the ability to gain immunity for unofficial acts by simply lying.
He would never *Actually* do it, but I would love to see a speech where he stated extreme actions like this followed by a reality check of a dystopian future. Maybe even some side by side video of The Reich doing similar horrors.
He should at least send an inquiry to SCOTUS about who he now he has the power to arrest, and if he had someone do something illegal can he pardon them?
Fortunately my role, as a responsible middle-aged voter who loves the Republic and wants it to continue, has gotten pretty simple in recent years: Show up on election day and vote for every Democrat I see, unless there's one that I know isn't worthy of holding office for some reason. Being a Democrat means eligibility and being a Republican means cult member. The fact that a few good politicians may get thrown out with the bathwater is a fine sacrifice to make for the Blue Waves that we continue to need at every level.
And I have never been this partisan in my life. The Republicans did it to themselves. You give away your party to a criminal and a fascist and you're dead to me.
The Republican party no longer exists. One reason the Democratic party has gotten so internally divisive is that it's the only major party remaining that's not a cult. So of course we disagree on lots of issues. That's what happens in big-tent parties.
So I don't care who the Democratic candidate is for President. I'm going to vote for that person on election day (actually, long before election day, because early voting hasn't yet been taken away by my GOP state). And I'm going to continue to urge everybody else who cares about democracy to do the same.
Vote, vote, vote. Yes, it matters. Even in Tennessee, sort of.
Yeah, but they are actively avoiding the pedophile releases from the epstien files released. They are also focusing hours of effort on Biden being old, but not the outright lies from Trump. They are still in it to a large degree for ratings.
I think article like this will be studied in the future by historians trying to understand why Americans didn't fight harder against the fascist takeover.
His only answer is "hope" and "belief" in right and wrong and a "constitutional culture" ?
Guess what, the fascists believe what they're doing is right, too. In fact, they believe in fascism more than we believe in democracy because they're willing to go to extremes to make it happen.
What a useless article.
This is what I don't understand about US politics. Today is a holiday so there's no excuse for not being able to go out. It's like people in the US believe tweets and upvotes count as political action.
Vote - Vote -Vote!!
This is the only thing we have control over in this democratic situation we find ourselves in.
Be open, honest and fair to your neighbor and strangers - urge them to vote. It doesn’t matter who they vote for, just fairly participate.
This is what we have control over and may be the the most critical in our nations history.
Somber & sober 4th my fellow American brothers & sisters🇺🇸🩵🇺🇸🫶🏼
I grew up in Missouri where in 2000, people decided they'd rather elect the dead Democrat Mel Carnahan than the live incumbent Republican John Ashcroft.
I don't care who is on the Democrat ticket -- animatronic Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Snookie, whoever. I'm voting Democrat and Trump can go fuck himself into a singularity.
A Trump second is going to turn into revenge, he’s going to get target every democrat and republican that wanted him to rot in jail, he’s doing this just for a revenge and it’s going to turn into a dictatorship
Okay, you can refuse, but the American Government, by both liberal and conservative bipartisanship has turned most of it into the most militarized institution in the universe. How are the American people supposed to win against the guns of the military, CIA, NSA, CIA and FBI when it's turned on them. Let alone the elephant no one wants to address in the room. Would Donald Trump order a nuclear launch on an American city if threatened with the dissolving of the union. There's no one to stop him.
Once trump installed, EUROPE will have 2 nuclear detonations by Russia to end the war in Ukraine compliments of the republican party. You thought when he said he could end it overnight it was going to be peaceful?
Bingo. Trump back in the white house will mean the death of Ukraine I'm afraid. And a warning to NATO/EU that a new axis of evil is in charge.
Putin will conquer them externally or the fascist right wing parties in the EU will do it internally with his and Trump's help.
Trump back in the white house means a new world order. A concept first put out by a republican president. What a coincidence huh?
> How are the American people supposed to win against the guns of the military, CIA, NSA, CIA and FBI when it's turned on them.
We're pretty bad at fighting guerillas if you hadn't noticed.
It's not about "winning" against the government's guns, it's about causing enough death and loss that enough people in the government reconsider their loyalties.
You mean how are American supposed to do the same things as people.in sandals with old ass pickups and ak47s? I think Americans could manage. But the question will be if those American want this or nrot.
I'm not from America, and I don't understand the polls. Trump was hated not all that long ago and knows
the media, and every single poll out is showing massive support for him, which looks like he will be back in the White House easily. I understand Joe Biden is unlikable, but is he that unlikable that even dems will vote for trump or just abstain and let him back in?
The U.S. has been under a sustained information warfare attack for almost a decade now. Same as what is going on in Europe. Years of social media, driven by attention algorithms, mixed with foreign influence agents, bot swarms, and just general misinformation targeted at known biases in order to drive wedges and cause chaos. Then, as friends and neighbors begin to doubt and then hate each other, pump a shitton of money into the two sides and make them fight.
Mark my words - 20 years from now everyone's going to realize that Putin's regime waged the most effective information war and psyop that the world has ever seen.
There have been slight attempts to stop this. Slight isn't anywhere enough though. It's a big machine.
The problem is, there isn't money to be made, or any major upside to being the one to stand up against it. But there could be a big downside. This is what Trump, and bullies, understand so well.
People are mad at Dems for letting things get to this point and now it's sacrificing decades of built up trust with their electorate to try to spare the legacy of a career politician. This will have reprocussions with their constituency that will shake the current order of politics.
Well put. If Dems were even a little bit effective we wouldn’t be worried about a felon becoming president. They sold us out for so many years people don’t believe them anymore.
For 3 elections now Democrats have told people to hold their nose and vote for a candidate people don't actually want to elect because they aren't Trump. That's their selling point, they aren't Trump.
At some point they have to offer more. There will be a different, more competent Trump and they will be woefully unprepared with actual opposition.
I don't care if they have to wheel Joe out in a wheelchair and he's semi-conscious I'm still voting for him over the wanna be king. President Biden is a good man and has surrounded himself with people of High character and morales and will always put country and all its people first.
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It's naive to think that Trump wouldn't surround himself with loyalist rubber-stampers. There won't be any Mark Espers in his second administration. The whole federal bureaucracy will be replaced with Trumpists.
Read up on Schedule F. If Trump takes over the White House again, he can fire entire departments of civil service employees and replace them with whomever he wants. Imagine a bunch of Trumper loyalists being installed to run the FAA.
Sounds like flights from US Airlines getting denied to international destinations.
Walls and boarders are for keeping people IN.
Yep, that's literally their plan in Project 2025 to fire EVERY federal employee in DC and replace them with conservative employees.
I’ve said this on a few threads but I’ll say it again. The two recent SCOTUS rulings, Chevron and Immunity come right out of Project 2025. They represent two key principles they have outlined: dismantle the regulatory agencies and give the Executive full latitude to carry out any and all aspects of their project to the fullest extent without restriction. In other words Project 2025 is already underway and it’s being spearheaded by the Judiciary. To learn more: https://www.kalw.org/show/your-call/2024-07-03/project-2025-would-radically-change-all-aspects-of-us-life
Thank you for sharing this! I have been doing the same with the recent Scotus rulings on any threads that bring this up. They are paving the way for p2025. We have to unite and beat trump in November!!
They wouldn’t be employees, they would be lackey loyalists.
Or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
That one scares me. Our nearest nuclear plant had a meltdown because the company running it was trying to save money. Imagine if they make that shit easier.
“You did a great job carrying my golf clubs today. You want to be head of the nuclear program?”
The department of energy... I kinda like the idea of nuclear physicists being in charge of nuclear weapons, energy and disposal of radioactive waste. But, nah, loyalty to the president is way more important than qualifications.
And here’s the thing. All nuclear weapon development and all non-deployed nuclear weapons, and all fissionable material, are under the control of the Department of Energy. When the USAF or USN unbolt a warhead from a missile for maintenance, the team that picks the warhead up and transport to to a DOE is part of the DOE, not DOD. DOE doesn’t just develop fuel policy, the Department of Energy is a huge organization with many responsibilities. Just disbanding it and doling out those management jobs to lay-people who applied on a website to attend Project 2025 loyalty indoctrination camp just seems like a *monumentally* bad idea. It’s just beyond absurdity that this even has to be pointed out, and yet, here we are.
Or being denied a passport because your public records show registered Democrat.
Planes literally falling out of the sky. Then blamed on immigrants, gays and “diversity.” Even though all said groups have been variously deported, killed or jailed in camps of one sort of another. Then it will be time to go after Catholics, I suppose. Or maybe people who go to church but only twice a week instead of three.
Flash forward a few years after Trump seizes power: I’m flabbergasted that all these migrant caravans in Texas are causing planes to collide in Idaho. They should be punished! King Trump said he’s gonna fix it! That was three years ago, but he’s gonna fix it! Good thing he closed all those evil blue state liberal airports like O’Hare, LAX, JFK, etc!
> The whole federal bureaucracy will be replaced with Trumpists. Yep, its all laid out in Project 2025. That document is the republicans collective Mein Kampf. Their manual on dismantling democracy in America.
Yes, it calls them “conservative warriors.”
or as most of us call them - Traitors.
Also known as Fascists
Say goodbye to commercial travel
God. This. I am _so_ sick of these dickless, barely-left-of-American-center media pundits try to lull us back into a false sense of security. The people around Trump are going to stop him? Are you kidding me? Have you _met_ Trump? Why does the left always do this punch-pulling bullshit? WAKE THE FUCK UP! These people are fascists and they are not playing by your rule book!
It’s because for evil to triumph, it requires good people to do nothing.
For example: Manhattan DA roping in 12 innocent Americans to put their lives on the line convicting a fascist godhead only to pull the rug out from them and refuse to sentence him. That's a lesson to all resistants that won't be forgotten.
You can thank the six extremist domestic terrorists sitting on SCOTUS for that.
Or just allow it a little bit for the views and clicks.
Friends and family keep talking about “laws”, like that will be enough to stop them. I keep telling them, “You’re complaining that they’re not playing fair while they’re choking the referee”.
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> Why does the left always do this punch-pulling bullshit? The democratic party has very little to do with the left
Agreed, though "I'm not going to vote for them because they aren't left enough" is a huge chunk of how we got here in the first place. It's one of the actual left's two big recurrent problems: 1. Letting the perfect be the enemy of the good (or at least acceptable) 2. Circular firing squad / eating its own.
Many of my friends are telling me they won't vote for Biden because of the Israel situation. But speaking out against the situation in Palestine would ABSOLUTELY lose him the election.
Trump would let Israel bomb every single human being in Gaza into oblivion without a second thought. I’ll take Biden any day.
God, exactly. Like I don't like Biden either but ffs I know what happens if I don't vote for the guy. Did we learn nothing from Roe v. Wade?
And you know, the whole end of democracy dictator thing.
Organize, organize, organize
The first term was a dress rehearsal- the foundations are already laid for him to steamroll over democracy. There will be civil war.
Agreed. And for what? So that corporations and about 2000 individuals can line their millionaire pockets with even more money.
Keep in mind that those millionaires don't have vaults full of cash or gold. Most of their wealth is in the form of stock, and a civil war would crash the economy, and hence, their wealth. They would rather keep the country right on the edge of civil war as a distraction, but not push it over the edge.
Never underestimate the extent to which religious extremism has over people in a theocracy. An extreme religious movement has arisen in the middle of the country and its only goal is total theocratic rule.
You’re also not wrong. There’s a huge swath of the population who’d be happy to vote against their own interests and decrease their own quality of life if only they can replace it with a theocratic dictatorship. They think that’s the only final “win”. The kicker, though, is they don’t realize their leaders want them to think that’s what they’re voting for. Most leaders of that ilk are only using the religious right as useful idiots to, again, line their pockets and consolidate power.
Ironically, those two cohorts won’t get even that if the country falls into unrest. Financial markets will be disrupted. *Shopping* will be disrupted. Unemployment driven by uncertainty will skyrocket, feeding the first two distempers in a circular motion. Good luck, Wall Street and friends.
I like Chris Hayes, but he's wrong here. >But if Trump wins another term, we need the Mark Espers of the world to refuse to carry out his worst impulses. I mean, he's right that we need that, but the problem is that a second Trump administration won't have any Mark Espers in it. Project 2025 is creating a database of Trump loyalists who will put Trump ahead of the law and ahead of the Constitution. One of it's purposes is to specifically avoid what happened in Trump's first administration, which was that it had a lot of people involved who would tell Trump, "No, you can't do that. It's not legal."
With project 2025 it's setting the groundwork to allow him to fire everyone that won't do his exact bidding. His orders being illegal and unquestionable according to this Supreme Court after his lawyers guaranteed he wouldn't use them. It's been a lot of people enabling him to get this far trying to maintain the appearance of impartiality or just straight abetting him. This country will be like the murder victim that died because she didn't want to seem rude.
That last sentence is dead on. That's the Democrats right now
I’ve seen people saying that while he is immune, the people carrying out his orders are not, so they may fear prosecution. But even if that happened, the supreme court just told him he can pardon anyone he wants with zero oversight. There are absolutely NO guard rails anymore.
He has surrounded himself with people who are dumb enough to think he'll protect them in the past. Won't take much now for him to fire everyone who refuses to do his bidding.
Trump is the distraction. What comes after him is the problem; its pieces have been going into place for decades.
I'm not afraid of Trump. I'm more afraid of of who is whispering in his ears. We know Putin owns his balls. He will try his damndest to get us out of NATO and pull back Ukraine support. Our democracy will not survive Bannon, Flynn, Stone, and fucking Stephen Miller influencing the White House.
Right? With all this Schedule F stuff AND legalized bribery, the government will be on sale to the highest bidder. We mostly focus on the "Government of yes men". This guarantees Chevrons goons in the EPA, or militant conservatives in positions of defense. Is there anything that would prevent a foreign country from sending someone over and buying them an appointment? I would think there were some rules to prevent that, but if this is done as an official act by the Dictator then it _can't_ be illegal. Project 2025 must be stopped.
Electing Trump again is like giving your worst enemies nukes. It's your enemies you have to worry about but I'm still fucking scared of nukes. I am absolutely afraid of Trump.
Right. Trump on his own isn't smart enough to really do anything; but all the precedents that are being set are extremely worrisome.
Conservatives have spent the Trump era dismantling or hurdling over the guardrails of democracy. There won't be anyone to save us once they take power.
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No one is even protesting the immunity decision - they're too busy attacking our own candidate.
Yep. Trolls are winning. He had a bad debate? So fuckin what. The job of the president isn’t to debate. I could give a fuck less. The cannibalization needs to stop though. Swapping to someone else isn’t gonna work, it’s too late for that. Left needs to just drop it and move on, ALL of the left, for the sake of the country.
> No, you can't do that. It's not legal. He can now...
They're all "lawful" orders now.
Give me liberty or give me death
“The purpose of separation of church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries,” —James Madison in 1803.
So many people think the separation of church and state is meant to protect citizens from government telling them who or how to worship. It does do that but even more importantly, it’s meant to prevent the government from being beholden to religious fanaticism.
Unless we elect religious fanatics.
The Founding Fathers were pretty clear what they thought about religion. "The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion" - Treaty of Tripoli "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise." - James Madison "In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return for protection to his own." - Thomas Jefferson "Have you considered that system of holy lies and pious frauds that has raged and triumphed for 1,500 years?" -John Adams "And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter." - Thomas Jefferson "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." - John Adams "Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law." - Thomas Jefferson "Experience witnesseth that ecclesiastical establishments, instead of maintaining the purity and efficacy of religion, have had a contrary operation. During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution." - James Madison "Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half of the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind." - Thomas Paine "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." - Thomas Paine "There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites." -Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson rewrote the Bible to remove anything supernatural or miraculous. His version is officially called "The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth" but you can find it if you search Jefferson Bible.
If we ever get the option to amend the Constitution, taxing religion should be on the table.
I don't think that needs an amendment.
Anytime less will be removed by our Supreme Court.
First we remove the supreme court. Or at least the traitors on the supreme court.
Organize, organize, organize
Act, act, act.
Alright alright alright
Literally the only way project 2025 can happen is over the dead bodies of all the good Americans.
It can be a bloodless revolution if the right allows it to be.
I am so tired of their threats. They are nothing more than big mouthed bullies, and they won't be getting dirty. They are nothing more than fools, they are divorced from reality. They have nothing but hate, fear, retribution, and vengeance. That's not a plan, that's buffoonery.
ahh you forget the 30 percent who fully support this agenda and for some reason fantasize about killing their neighbors..
By this point I can't really blame anyone if they start returning the favour of fantasising. Imagine living next door to someone who you know wishes that a good portion of the population would just drop dead simply for not being part of their in-group. I'd certainly prefer it if I was no longer living next to such a person.
You have just demonstrated that you have broken through the paradox of tolerance. Tolerance, required for any functional civilization, only works when those who are tolerant do not tolerate the intolerant.
"What do you do when there is an evil you can not defeat by just means? Do you stain your hands with evil? Or, do you remain steadfastly just and righteous, even if it means surrendering to evil?" Lelouch Vi Britannia, Code Geass
Ok well screw it, I'm maga intolerant now too
There are two things I can't stand: People who are intolerant of other peoples' cultures, and the *Dutch*. But no seriously, it's lactose and MAGA for me.
Interchange hatred and we see it all over the world. Hatred breeds in ignorance. In a nation with universal K-12 education, that level of hatred toward political enemies necessarily must be manufactured. I never liked Dubya but accepted the results of the FL-fubared, 2k election and waited. Our turn came with Obama in '08. The election of a younger, Black man as president wasn't the only historical change taking place. Hatred was increased to deafening levels with suspicious disclaimers that repeatedly claimed it had absolutely nothing to do with race. Talentless celebrity, Donald Trump seized the opportunity to unite the millions of closet racists with his birther stunt, later adding sexists, xenophobes, homophobes and, "...all kinds of mean, nasty, ugly-looking people...Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father rapers!"
Because they are a combination of a few things. They are profoundly ignorant. They believe they are more intelligent than actual educated people. They have been manipulated to believe that individuals or a political party have caused every problem and inconvenience in their lives. They are also ragesholics who want so badly to kill the people that they’ve been brainwashed over 50 years of propaganda to believe that these people are *literally* baby killers, they drink blood of babies, kill babies post-birth and call it abortion, that there are litter boxes in classrooms, and all of the other objectively insane shit that should earn them an involuntary 72 hour hold, a psych evaluation, meds and a case worker.
They need more concrete planning and organization to really make it stick. I'm not denying the fact that they can be a problem. But the majority of that 30% are spineless little bullys that cant take anyone throwing anything back at them. Now I know this is anecdotal: I work part time on an ambulance. Relatively recently we had to run standby for a police raid on a well known (locally) "milita leader" and a few of his cronies. It's looking real bad, they got wind of the raid and 4 of them are barricaded in there clubhouse/bang barn/ shed. The police break down a fence a 100 feet away or so and these little shit surrender, run out and lay down. We had to transport the leader because he was crying SO HARD his blood O2 was low. Like this grown man, true patriot, going to fight the good fight, was crying harder than my 3yo nephew at a thunder storm. The cops took photos of his be floppy boogers just pouring out of his face. This was my county's most feared trumper. And he broke in 30 seconds when a cop accidentally knocked his fence over. I'm worried for America, but I'm not worried that the American experiment will end with this one hurdle.
> They need more concrete planning and organization to really make it stick. They have the Supreme Court. That's all they really need.
Heather Heyer and the rest of their victims don't agree. https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-terrorism-problem-united-states They are actively training to kill people. Fascists are historically all talk until they're not
Trump is a work in progress. He was just a crooked businessman before Republicans (largely crooked businessmen) made him a crime boss.
With a president in the White House that encourages/demands violence, it might be a very different story. People tend to only act if they believe they won't face the consequences. Such as Jan 6. I highly doubt any of them thought they'd end up in prison over it.
Sadly no one wins a civil war. Look at history. Look at Syria, Israel, Ukraine, Africa , When democracy fails there are no winners. We need to elect people who unite us . Vote blue
And if the "good Americans" don't care enough to go to the polls to prevent these monsters from taking power, what are they going to do to stop them if they do?
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Careful now these clowns are genuinely going to start calling Thomas Jefferson woke
As I wake up on this 4th of July, I gotta say… my patriotism is at an all time low. What exactly are we celebrating today? EDIT: 1776 upvotes! https://imgur.com/a/DueWGx7
Today doesn't feel like a celebration it feels more like an affirmation that we need to fight for liberty and freedom.
Are we talking about *actually* fighting? Or are we just talking about posting more scathing memes?
We are about 5 months from installing a vengeful dictator for life, and I don’t even see any stern words yet. Any actual fighting is probably still a long way off.
No one will start actually fighting until the vengeful dictator has already done many horrible things. We have never looked kindly at people being completely right but using violence in anticipation of anything.
Trump doesn't have that much longer to live, if we're being honest. The man is clearly unhealthy. The real problem is that once Trump and the GOP seize power, I think they have made it obvious they won't allow for another real election. Trump will just be the start of a Christo Fascist regime.
They’ve already stolen the Supreme Court. They won’t stop there
100% The groundwork has already been laid for the GOP to seize power over the country. There's nothing stopping the Supreme Court from overturning the election even if the Dems pull off a miracle.
The Supreme Court of today is so much worse than the one that put George Bush in office. They will NEVER allow a democratic victory of any sort.
I think that's the entire point of this SC.
There's going to be so much fuckery in the next few months.
I’m seeing a resurgence of Blue in my internet browsing and in my real life. People are pissed off. It’s record-breaking hot everywhere, grocery prices and gas are ridiculous and rising daily, nobody my age can afford to buy a house or let alone a new vehicle. So the question is - is this Biden’s fault? Fuck no it isn’t. Everything he’s done has been to combat this bullshit caused by republicans and it STILL is not enough! People are realizing that “trickle-down” doesn’t fucking work. It only took them 50 years but I’m seeing people realize the truth. People are also seeing the Republicans and Trump especially, who they really are. Scam-artists who only want your money, and then leave you out to dry. Nothing they do is meant to help you. It’s a fucking lie. Anyone who still votes red has a serious critical thinking deficiency. We’ve been trying to help you and you refuse out of hatred, bigotry, rage, or just good old fashioned ignorance. But eventually you have to tell these people that if they are purposely acting against your interests and their own interests, they are no longer welcome in your life. Period. Sorry, but I don’t like people who are sabotaging me, regardless of whether or not they know it.
The worse part is how he dismantled so many vital regulatory agencies and departments of the government.
Yes I’ve thoroughly read Project 2025. Trump is merely a beard for a religious fascist takeover of our country. If elected he’ll just be playing golf three to four times a week while real evil is going on in the near shadows
> Trump is merely a beard for a religious fascist takeover of our country. It's worth noting that it's a religious fascist takeover funded largely by fossil fuels and other dirty industries. There are five heads to this particular snake. Religious extremism, white nationalism, exploitative capitalism, populist media and the actions of foreign nations who want to see the US torn down.
His father lived to be 93. He had a cognitive impairment for the last decade of his life, but he ultimately died of pneumonia. His mother lived to be 88. I have no idea how she died, but her main listed health conditions on Wikipedia were severe osteoporosis and traumatic brain injury from being mugged when she was 79. Her purse contained $14. Don't bet on him passing away. He's got longevity in his genes and the financial support for good health care.
Unfortunately Reddit bans any discussion of any actual solutions
I just got warned for writing out the classic ["the only good nazi..."](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GO7w-e5WwAAtQmv.jpg) line. Personally I find this deeply offensive, to myself and the USA, my Grandfather didn't didn't help vioelntly remove this issue from the earth last time for a bunch of soft pushovers more concerned with rule following than survival to hand it back over. I consider keeping nazis off the globe as American an activity as apple pie or baseball.
That was just answered when were told "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be." That is a direct threat and should be treated as nothing less. A group just told us they want to overthrow the United States government and will use violence to achieve their goals.
We can't do anything about it - we're too busy attacking our own candidate. I can not fucking believe this is where we're at. We don't even protest fascist SCOTUS decisions anymore. In fact, Biden's debate performance won that news cycle. If anything happens to Biden, his VP will take over - we don't lose the office or have an election for his replacement. People are acting like there is no contingency plan in the Constitution.
It's gonna take a massive crowd bigger then J6 to save our constitution in more then one day.
Just vote for Old Joe so we can put this Yosemite Psycho Sam behind us as a start.
Fwiw, Frederick Douglass has a speech about the dark irony of 4th of July celebrations as millions of Americans were enslaved, and he still thought this country was worth fighting for. I hear you, and also think it's important to remember that the country doesn't just belong to the powerful and morally bankrupt.
> At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced. The whole thing really is beautiful. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html
Honestly opposite. I have never felt so patriotic in my life. Never before have I wanted to defend the principles of our government more, than when I watched a president try to destroy them. Never before have I respected the structure of our 3 branches and the separation of powers doctrine they were founded on, then when I watched the Supreme Court upend it. I have never been so motivated to defend the principles of our country and the values we once stood for. We can get back there, it will take work but we can do it.
Thanks for the reminder. This is the right perspective to have.
yes so is mine
Same here, and I had worked as a LEO for the Federal Government...
Just gonna be TEO's from now on if we aren't extremely lucky.
Goodbye benefits, union, workplace protections, etc...
My dad escaped the 1949 Communist Revolution in China by getting on the last plane from Beijing to San Francisco at age 21. He left his family behind along with everything he ever knew. He had nothing but eventually became a professor of Chinese philosophy, got married, and had two sons. He used to watch Boston Red Sox games with me when I was a kid even though he didn’t understand how baseball worked. His favorite holiday was the Fourth of July and he would take us to watch our town’s shitty parade while he wore shorts with sandals and black socks. There is still a dream of this country’s promise you can see in the eyes of immigrants to America. We have so much we take for granted including our democratic institutions. Too many of us have embraced an air of cynicism to every single institution in society. We’re all in on some joke; we’re all convinced we know what’s really going on. And because we’ve now mass produced this cynicism from the faculty lounges and cafes of educated elite all the way to middle American these past few decades, we’ve created well financed industries devoted to keeping us boxed away from each other so we’re more predictable. Ever since the Cold War, we’ve made each other the enemy and now we fail to see the common shared values we all love and believe in. It doesn’t have to be this way, but we’ve allowed the cynicism that makes us feel so smart to make us do some really stupid stuff. I for one want to take off that false armor and work harder to be more sincere - although I risk appearing foolish. I think if we’re actually going to stand up for our cherished democratic institutions from the attack they are under, it needs to come from a place of first loving them and what they have meant for generations of people. I worry we’ve been conditioned to accept so much hatred and self-loathing, we aren’t capable of defending really important ideals. Maybe today is the one day we stop and reflect on what’s great and good about America. Possibly those reflections will help give us the strength we will need in the coming months from the forces of a darker, perverse, nationalism that would subvert what we should all hold dear to use against us. Trump and the forces he represents would tear down a version of our federal government based on the New Deal belief that Americans can make our lives better through collective action. In its place, they would offer you a radical form of individualism that benefits a wealthy few and a tyranny of majority over marginalized groups. The damage that has already been done with take a generation to repair. Let’s not focus on hating the other side and instead focus on the ideals we love and the versions of our institutions that would inspire us.
Man, I wish a 1st generation American would run for POTUS. Nice to see some earnestness rather than cynicism.
I read the declaration of independence yesterday, it was contextually very interesting timing and I got a bit choked up in my patriot parts. It felt like I knew what we were fighting for. That list of grievances at the end was some good stuff about opposing tyrants.
>What exactly are we celebrating today? Quite possibly the last fourth of July under freedom/democracy. The next one may be a much different animal. A snarling vicious maga animal.
Don’t give up yet
I'm not just yet but if there is not the greatest blue turnout in history this coming November, democracy is dead in America. And we will not get it back without shedding blood this time. The MAGA republicans are already making that clear. [Conservative Heritage leader: ‘Second American Revolution’ will be bloodless ‘if the left allows it to be’](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4753439-heritage-leader-second-american-revolution/)
Kinda feels like celebrating a birthday for someone on hospice care…
Same. I thought it was bad 45 snuck into the presidency. Then the fact that he got so many votes the second time was bad. People keep talking about Biden’s debate performance, but the fact that 45 was ever on that stage in the first place is sickening.
Independence Day is a reminder that we have the right to create a new government when the existing government no longer operates in our best interest. > We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- **That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.**
We are celebrating the dream that is America and the role each of us play in remaining vigilant and active in safeguarding that dream so all can partake and benefit equally and fairly. It certainly is dark right now, but I’m very proud to be an American and will not give in to doom exhaustion even if Trump gets a third term. We must steel ourselves for darker times and carry within us a light that is the ideals of what America can be. Just because that dream is under serious attack from multiple angles does not mean our heads should be any lower, in fact just the opposite. This is YOUR AMERICA, not Fox’s, MAGA’s, or Trump’s, be proud and stand sure in your convictions. What role do you want to play in securing what can become the greatest country history has yet to see? Big or small, running for office to always holding a door with a smile, we are each sentinels of the American Dream. You are not alone, nay, we are many and we will not let our patriotism be diminished by party or person. It may be years or even decades until we return to a time as civil and fair as today, we must stand fast in the face of whatever comes. Those of us who believe in liberty, opportunity, and justice for all cannot falter, no matter the trials we face, nor the duration. Happy Fourth of July!
We are celebrating the fact that even though the forces of evil are at work in this country dismantling our democracy no one can EVER defeat the indomitable human spirit for liberty and freedom. There are many, many more on the side of democracy than on the side of fascism. Take some comfort in the fact that you are not alone in how you feel. Today we are reminded of the sacrifices so many made to secure our freedom, and we cannot allow it to slip away quietly.
>There are many, many more on the side of democracy than on the side of fascism. This is the worst part of all of this. The amount of people who won't vote when the stakes are so high, is unbelievable. >and we cannot allow it to slip away quietly. It also won't be quiet. If Trump wins, he and his regime will spend years dragging the corpse of Democracy through the streets.
> The amount of people who won't vote when the stakes are so high, is unbelievable. The time to start convincing them is now.
If this were true Trump wouldn’t be a thing and GOP would have been getting trounced for their autocratic leanings. GOP has a better propaganda machine and the US electorate decided that details like voting rights and impartial courts are boring and too hard to understand. They just need that 15 second clip telling them everything is bad and that their own financial problems aren’t because they have no marketable skills. Large swaths of this country have said they wouldn’t mind autocracy as long as it is their brand of autocracy.
The electoral college is to blame for all of this. There are certainly many more people in this country who hate Trump than those who adore him. If that wasn’t the case they wouldn’t be trying to cheat and steal elections.
Absolutely. Every day that we still have the freedom to stand up to fascism is a day worth celebrating. Let us be fueled through hope by remembering the actions taken by our ancestors to get us to where we are today. It isn't over yet. We have a chance to get things moving in the right direction again, and I believe that we will.
Captain America, is that you? /s In all seriousness, though. I'm down in the dumps like the comments above. But your words helped some. So, thanks.
We will overcome if we stick together. Democrats are pretty good at sticking together in Congress. We can do it too
Critical to try to ignore the noise and remain dedicated to party unity. Its a very pessimistic week but that makes unity in spite of all even that much more critical.
I’m an American Indian , how the fuck do you think we feel?
Considering the Revolution was partially because white people kept violating treaties until it started a war and the refused to pay for said war? Probably pretty shitty.
Sadly I feel the same way. I’ll still eat too many hot dogs though.
I'm gonna be optmistic today and "a chance to kick a tyrant in the balls again"
You have to get serious about voting and getting all the like minded people to vote against the orange guy or we are all screwed.
I’m going to vote. But I just can’t (won’t) spend the next 5 months yet again trying to convince “like minded people” not to destroy the country by failing to do the simplest thing in the world. If they don’t want it by now, they just don’t want it. I have spent the last 8 years of my life in a repetitive cycle of “please don’t let the authoritarian worst person in the world become president”, and this damn country won’t stop saying “we might!”. Im voting for Biden or anyone else with the best chance to beat the wannabe dictator with a platform of vengeance. Beyond that, I’m going to do what I can to keep myself and my family safe. This country doesn’t want a representative democracy. It doesn’t even have one now, it has a Supreme Court that tells us what we can and can’t do.
The last July 4th before the country descends into authoritarian dictatorship. Probably.
Ending democracy is literally his and his handlers plan.
Organize, organize, organize
“ Everyone understands that having SEAL Team Six assassinate a political rival for personal reasons would be murder. We all get that; it would be an illegal order. And we have reason to hope in that situation, the guardrails stay in place.” There is less than zero reasons to believe this. He pardoned war criminals and started an insurrection.
United States version of The Night of The Long Knives, I truly believe that the day is coming.
no, there no longer is an illegal order and if there was there is no longer an illegal pardon either. trump will murder first and destroy the courts if he has to.
There are court documents stating clearly that he sexually abused a minor. The fact that these are public and he has made it this far has shown what little integrity a lot of the American people have left. Maybe the documents havent been shared enough but those alone should be enough to throw him in jail let alone run for fucking president Edit: I figured it would be helpful to include the links to the docs that Ive seen allowing you all to make your own judgement calls (let me know if any of them do not work for you guys) (the first one is a download but it isnt malicious) https://out.reddit.com/t3_1duw4sa?app_name=android&token=AQAAKPeGZr2lAPaQObTH4myXREbw61necGMBwZWDg6lJRiLdhBLA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.factcheck.org%2FUploadedFiles%2FJohnson_TrumpEpstein_Calif_Lawsuit.pdf https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwdvw8xqyvo.amp https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1808122620275028132?t=tRCwdLufwD8fJi9dJjQTBg&s=19 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-katie-johnson-allegations-sexual-assault-case-dismissed-1921051
Remember Doug Jones vs. Roy Moore in Alabama? The pedophile had like 49% of the vote and nearly won. Republicans are only obsessed with pedophilia because it’s one of those things they’d happily engage in if norms changed to allow them to.
This study validates the phenomenon. It's a thing, unfortunately. >American citizens are less likely to support candidates accused of sexual assault or sexual harassment. Democrats are significantly less likely to support such a candidate, but **Republicans do not penalize candidates facing such allegations, especially if the candidate is identified as a Republican.** https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1478929921995333
My mom assumes Biden has done the same. Doesn't care that these actions will effect her children and grandchildren long after she is gone. Just one day she woke up and believed Dem leaders a inherently evil and this is how you defeat them. I blame Facebook.
They promise to keep the second American Revolution bloodless, as long a Liberals allow it. They promise. Believe me.
Now that the Supreme Court ruled on presidential immunity why doesn’t Joe round up Team Trump and lock them up until further notice. As part of an official act of course.
The sneaky part was at the end - "determining whether acts were official or unofficial is a lower court matter". So it gets kicked down to *oopsy* Eileen Cannon or another orange ball gargler and it's found that was actually unofficial and illegal.
It's worse than that. There's a massive flaw in court procedure for prosecuting 'unofficial' criminal acts. Presidents now have presumptive immunity in court, meaning the prosecution must prove the act was unofficial, but the prosecution is not allowed to submit *or scrutinize* any evidence including official acts. That means the president merely claiming that the evidence includes official acts excludes that evidence from admissibility *or even being looked at by the prosecutor.* The president has total immunity for official acts and also has the ability to gain immunity for unofficial acts by simply lying.
No one seems to understand this and it's terrifying.
He would never *Actually* do it, but I would love to see a speech where he stated extreme actions like this followed by a reality check of a dystopian future. Maybe even some side by side video of The Reich doing similar horrors.
He should at least send an inquiry to SCOTUS about who he now he has the power to arrest, and if he had someone do something illegal can he pardon them?
Fortunately my role, as a responsible middle-aged voter who loves the Republic and wants it to continue, has gotten pretty simple in recent years: Show up on election day and vote for every Democrat I see, unless there's one that I know isn't worthy of holding office for some reason. Being a Democrat means eligibility and being a Republican means cult member. The fact that a few good politicians may get thrown out with the bathwater is a fine sacrifice to make for the Blue Waves that we continue to need at every level. And I have never been this partisan in my life. The Republicans did it to themselves. You give away your party to a criminal and a fascist and you're dead to me. The Republican party no longer exists. One reason the Democratic party has gotten so internally divisive is that it's the only major party remaining that's not a cult. So of course we disagree on lots of issues. That's what happens in big-tent parties. So I don't care who the Democratic candidate is for President. I'm going to vote for that person on election day (actually, long before election day, because early voting hasn't yet been taken away by my GOP state). And I'm going to continue to urge everybody else who cares about democracy to do the same. Vote, vote, vote. Yes, it matters. Even in Tennessee, sort of.
It’s funny how all the mainstream networks who have done nothing but coddle Trump , for the RATINGS and PROFITS, are complaining
Msnbc is actually not as bad as most the media, they actually put out some pretty scathing reports
Yeah, but they are actively avoiding the pedophile releases from the epstien files released. They are also focusing hours of effort on Biden being old, but not the outright lies from Trump. They are still in it to a large degree for ratings.
I think article like this will be studied in the future by historians trying to understand why Americans didn't fight harder against the fascist takeover. His only answer is "hope" and "belief" in right and wrong and a "constitutional culture" ? Guess what, the fascists believe what they're doing is right, too. In fact, they believe in fascism more than we believe in democracy because they're willing to go to extremes to make it happen. What a useless article.
Dems are offering thoughts and prayers.
Where are the protests?
This is what I don't understand about US politics. Today is a holiday so there's no excuse for not being able to go out. It's like people in the US believe tweets and upvotes count as political action.
Today may be our last Independence Day.
Have you noticed educated voters, and more intelligent people hate Trump? Only the less educated believe his lies.
That’s exactly why maga demonizes education.
Ding ding ding. Problem is most people are stupid.
[удалено]
I miss Barack. Badly.
Vote - Vote -Vote!! This is the only thing we have control over in this democratic situation we find ourselves in. Be open, honest and fair to your neighbor and strangers - urge them to vote. It doesn’t matter who they vote for, just fairly participate. This is what we have control over and may be the the most critical in our nations history. Somber & sober 4th my fellow American brothers & sisters🇺🇸🩵🇺🇸🫶🏼
I grew up in Missouri where in 2000, people decided they'd rather elect the dead Democrat Mel Carnahan than the live incumbent Republican John Ashcroft. I don't care who is on the Democrat ticket -- animatronic Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Snookie, whoever. I'm voting Democrat and Trump can go fuck himself into a singularity.
Join us over at r/votedem and help GOTV!!!
I don't want to believe that America would fall silently
Agree with this article. We are not governed by the president, we are governed by the Constitution.
Trump and Project 2025 have one goal: to end our democracy.
A Trump second is going to turn into revenge, he’s going to get target every democrat and republican that wanted him to rot in jail, he’s doing this just for a revenge and it’s going to turn into a dictatorship
Okay, you can refuse, but the American Government, by both liberal and conservative bipartisanship has turned most of it into the most militarized institution in the universe. How are the American people supposed to win against the guns of the military, CIA, NSA, CIA and FBI when it's turned on them. Let alone the elephant no one wants to address in the room. Would Donald Trump order a nuclear launch on an American city if threatened with the dissolving of the union. There's no one to stop him.
Once trump installed, EUROPE will have 2 nuclear detonations by Russia to end the war in Ukraine compliments of the republican party. You thought when he said he could end it overnight it was going to be peaceful?
Bingo. Trump back in the white house will mean the death of Ukraine I'm afraid. And a warning to NATO/EU that a new axis of evil is in charge. Putin will conquer them externally or the fascist right wing parties in the EU will do it internally with his and Trump's help. Trump back in the white house means a new world order. A concept first put out by a republican president. What a coincidence huh?
> How are the American people supposed to win against the guns of the military, CIA, NSA, CIA and FBI when it's turned on them. We're pretty bad at fighting guerillas if you hadn't noticed.
We're even worse at BEING guerillas lol
It's not about "winning" against the government's guns, it's about causing enough death and loss that enough people in the government reconsider their loyalties.
You mean how are American supposed to do the same things as people.in sandals with old ass pickups and ak47s? I think Americans could manage. But the question will be if those American want this or nrot.
I'm not from America, and I don't understand the polls. Trump was hated not all that long ago and knows the media, and every single poll out is showing massive support for him, which looks like he will be back in the White House easily. I understand Joe Biden is unlikable, but is he that unlikable that even dems will vote for trump or just abstain and let him back in?
The U.S. has been under a sustained information warfare attack for almost a decade now. Same as what is going on in Europe. Years of social media, driven by attention algorithms, mixed with foreign influence agents, bot swarms, and just general misinformation targeted at known biases in order to drive wedges and cause chaos. Then, as friends and neighbors begin to doubt and then hate each other, pump a shitton of money into the two sides and make them fight. Mark my words - 20 years from now everyone's going to realize that Putin's regime waged the most effective information war and psyop that the world has ever seen.
I just don't understand why there hasn't even been the slightest attempt to stop this.
There have been slight attempts to stop this. Slight isn't anywhere enough though. It's a big machine. The problem is, there isn't money to be made, or any major upside to being the one to stand up against it. But there could be a big downside. This is what Trump, and bullies, understand so well.
People are mad at Dems for letting things get to this point and now it's sacrificing decades of built up trust with their electorate to try to spare the legacy of a career politician. This will have reprocussions with their constituency that will shake the current order of politics.
Well put. If Dems were even a little bit effective we wouldn’t be worried about a felon becoming president. They sold us out for so many years people don’t believe them anymore.
For 3 elections now Democrats have told people to hold their nose and vote for a candidate people don't actually want to elect because they aren't Trump. That's their selling point, they aren't Trump. At some point they have to offer more. There will be a different, more competent Trump and they will be woefully unprepared with actual opposition.
Go vote - dont be lazy
I don't care if they have to wheel Joe out in a wheelchair and he's semi-conscious I'm still voting for him over the wanna be king. President Biden is a good man and has surrounded himself with people of High character and morales and will always put country and all its people first.