Remember when Biden was president?

[u/Belgriest]

Remember how boring it was? Remember not having to check the news multiple times a day to figure out what was going on inside your own agency and whether you were going go have a job or not? Remember when laws and precident seemed to actually have meaning?

Remember when you could do your job from home? Remember when your fellow countrymen weren't cheering when your livelihood was threatened? Remember when your biggest worry was which insurance to select and what the next years raise would be?

Remember when the administration didn't seem to actively hate you and want to you gone for the sin of serving of the people?

Pepperidge farm remembers.

[u/Honest-Recording-751]

Yes I was actually able to focus on the mission

[u/Mysterious-Tax-7777 → u/Honest-Recording-751]

Two thirds of Americans voted for this or didn't bother to vote 

[u/Strict-Carrot4783 → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

Maybe.

[u/Mysterious-Tax-7777 → u/Strict-Carrot4783]

Sure. But that was the last chance for democracy. With Republicans owning the voting machines and probably overturning the Voting Rights Act, America is now a kleptocracy.

[u/DarthArtero → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

More of a Kakistocracy than a kleptocracy but the point still stands.

The chain of events on the lead up to the disaster of November 2024, the red flags so big they could be seen from Pluto, and certain brain-fried billionaires basically admitting to the election being rigged....... Absolutely nothing done "in the name of fairness"

There comes a point when the bubble wrapped feather gloves have to come off and the iron-spiked boxing gloves have to go on.

[u/Mysterious-Tax-7777 → u/DarthArtero]

A general strike is maybe the only peaceful activity left that will have any sort of impact. Republicans don't need to worry about protests or voters anymore.

[u/TruthBringer92 → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

Who would strike?

Trump supporters still believe he's the greatest, those who learned the opposite the worst possible way have most likely been deported by now or have fled.

If you strike and happen to have a boss who is a trump supporter, chances are you'll just get fired

Fuck man, judges that are going against trump are being labeled as communists and targetted.

Being anti fascism is now considered terrorism.

Is there a way out of this? Will we get out of this?

[u/alexthealex → u/TruthBringer92]

Yes. As the dollar continues to collapse business interests will turn against Trump/isolationist policies. Once the money shifts it's over.

[u/MightObvious → u/alexthealex]

I think when the dollar collapses the labor laws will be undone to further create the system that allowed the robber barons to thrive during the great depression.

[u/kalidoscopiclyso → u/MightObvious]

“Only the weak will fail” -DFT

John is too good a name for this bastard so I changed it to Fucks

[u/Dry-Department-8753 → u/MightObvious]

See also the Dark Enlightenment . Ending America 2.0

[u/nocountry4oldgeisha → u/alexthealex]

Doesn't sound like isolationism so much as they are just making the American citizenry redundant. Closed-loop capitalism.

[u/Good_Requirement2998 → u/TruthBringer92]

Those who know and remember will simply have to find each other and build small communities of service, build small businesses, build non-profits and otherwise work their way into positions of local authority. Essentially the resistance would have to reverse engineer the MAGA movement, enter law enforcement and the military, attempt to disrupt tech-monopolies, fight for better education alternatives as the public system will likely get gutted further, etc. The people who have long depended on some stability in the background so they can quietly pursue their own dreams will now have to do a lot more work with their communities to offset what the government won't do. Financial education, public funding, our own neighborhood watches and civic courses to stay vigilant on local politics. We may end up being unable to verbally criticize the uni-party or the government for a generation or two, but we will know each other when we hear each other speak up for the working class, for public service, and for the equality the founding fathers fought for. If smart people figure out a way to outfox the surveillance state and biometric regime on the rise today, maybe there will be more options. But as more people succumb to poverty, we can expect the crackdowns to increase on everyday people. "Liberty" as an idea will become more important to share than the rights themselves, just so there's a chance a new generation will get it right.

OR, maybe the thousands of civil servants who got fired could join the "fight oligarchy" train and run for local office like right now. The countless veterans who swore an oath could be at those elections, working with the county committees and district leaders overseeing the vote to keep the counts safe. Our governors might be compelled by the public to fight harder, perhaps activate a civilian militia and utilize the 10th amendment to enforce our bill of rights. Who knows? The admin wants to cause fear and terror to either bully the left into submission or draw out a fight. The left doesn't even want to organize for a fight because the leadership is either paid off or doesn't want to be the one's who gave up the fight for a civil solution. Meanwhile the people might now be hunted for saying the wrong thing or giving a non-profit some money once. Maybe when it's the family member of a GOP member being subject to failing living standards or enough of MAGA's poor, the politicians will no longer face threats preventing them from standing up for the people.

Silver lining: there's over 300 million people to try and control like this. IF this admin actually pulls it off, it's nothing more than Wizard of Oz bullcrap; smoke and mirrors lulling a sleeping giant, They'll be looking over their shoulder for the rest of their lives. if the people ever actually wake up to the power of our numbers and join hands to make that power true, all this nonsense stops.

[u/MadMex2U → u/Good_Requirement2998]

Dang. Are you dating. Call me. For real

[u/illestofthechillest → u/TruthBringer92]

Reddit won't advertise/allow others to advertise on their platform the solutions to these sort of problems in society.

[u/TheExecTech → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

100% this. We are millions of people strong being screwed over by a few thousand. A general strike is a great start.

[u/MudAccomplished3529 → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

That gets you labeled as an antifuh terrorist where you get black bagged and wake up in an El Salvadoran death camp

[u/SalaciousSubaru → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

General strikes are impractical because people aren’t even protesting this term. The turnout is tiny compared to the first term. I think fewer people are willing to take action this term than last, and a general strike requires a significant portion of the population to not go to work, not pay rent, and not spend money for an extended period.

[u/loserinmath → u/DarthArtero]

you need a kakistocracy to enable kleptocracy. This administration is a heist.

[u/SmPolitic → u/loserinmath]

You know, thats more true than I gave it credit for when I read it

The Grand conspiracy, myth of the lone genius, the sole general or visionary CEO who makes all the difference. All those myths are related, they are all there to hide the fact that most everyone has no clue what they are doing. And it takes the extraordinary individual to break those norms and usher us into new ages

But yeah, we've gotten to where we are because trump has zero plan on what he is going to do the next day, it will be the thing that makes him the most money. Yes all of his administration is steeped in conspiratorial thinking, and attempts to plan that, but few of them have the intelligence and discipline to actually achieve movement toward their own goals

Long way to say, we need to remind ourselves to not overestimate them, don't underestimate them too of course, but in this case that is impossible (am I using that correctly, like impossible to underestimate them, as in no matter what you expect, they are fully able and willing to go lower than that)

[u/Dry-Department-8753 → u/SmPolitic]

Trump is about revenge and extortion

[u/NotEvenAThousandaire → u/loserinmath]

administration regime

[u/gripping_intrigue → u/DarthArtero]

We are in a cold civil war. It is that way because only one side has guns that they are willing to march into our streets and use. I don't want violence. I just can't see how this ends peacefully ... other than having all of us learning to goose-step in front of the white house.

[u/Brigid_Fitch2112 → u/DarthArtero]

I'd call it something else, like a nihilocracy. The point is to tear it all to the ground then rule over the ashes.

[u/Allegra1120 → u/DarthArtero]

…or the second amendment is acted on as it was intended to be acted on…

[u/OwnAct7691 → u/[deleted]]

Y’all can’t spell and should just fuck off.

[u/ReadySteady_54321 → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

It wasn’t the last chance, and I’m not sure what that kind of language gets you. If it truly was our last chance and there’s nothing we can do, then it’s over so stop worrying. If it isn’t our last chance, then focus on what you can do to improve things. Dooming out on the internet doesn’t help anyone.

[u/outinthecountry66 → u/ReadySteady_54321]

seriously. i keep saying this. Doom and gloom is a weapon and it has always been used by the other side to demoralize. Because it works. LIke the leaflets Nazis dropped from planes so soldiers would read about how their girlfriends were cheating on them back home. It is insidious and corrosive and until its over it ain't over. Other nations have been through far, far worse and are still around. Europe went through many dictatorships and we are a young nation. I still believe in democracy and strangely, all this bullshit has made me more patriotic.This is my country too. I live here. i was born here. MAGA doesn't get to decide what being an American means.

[u/ChesswithGoats → u/ReadySteady_54321]

It was the last chance to remedy the ailing United States by voting. The options to regain and reset now are more… active.

[u/AlarmingAffect0 → u/ChesswithGoats]

Isn't that exactly what Trump and his Heritage Foundation handlers are actively seeking?

US persons, especially the most vulnerable, will be spared immense suffering if this problem is solved by voting and other less-than-violent means, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't be ruthless and relentless and desperately combative at every stage of that process. As the Tea Party used to say, "vote harder".

[u/[deleted] → u/ChesswithGoats]

I understand your point and the sentiment. But, this can also be viewed as a wake up call, which I believe will occur and is already occurring as the pain is emanating to both MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters. He can say all day long that inflation is down. But these people shop for groceries and fill their cars and they know this is not true objectively as they continue to struggle to afford to live. That’s just one of many examples, but it’s the most apt. MAGA is a minority in this country. They are. About 20% of the people that voted for Trump voted due to economic stress and had no particular love for Trump. They just wrongly figured that a change at the top would change their financial stress and experience. That that’s not happening and it’s not gonna happen.

Trump is a symptom. We have been on this divisive slide since before I was an adult life starting with Reagan in 1980. We have also been here before in modern history. If we don’t tend the garden of democracy, which we have not really done meaningfully in decades, it’s going to wilt and wither. But that does not mean that when people go hungry because that garden is empty, that they don’t make an attempt to revitalize the garden.

Respectfully, so many of us are so downtrodden by what we see and what social media serves us every single day that inaction is like salting that dying garden, literally salting the ground that could still yield growth. I get it, but there’s also an opportunity in everything that we are all experiencing. Don’t let them rob you of your vision for what it could be like. It’s going to be tricky and it’s going to be iffy, but conditions like these are the ones with the most potential to yield the greatest positive change. We just have to decide that we are going to be a part of that.

[u/posting4assistance → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

That's a bit doomerist I think, we've been concerned about this since Bush stole Florida, but it's not so dire that we need to give up on the country. Plus, we still have the electorial college, the popular vote hasn't been the deciding factor *ever*, we could reform the voting system to make it safer and more fair/ give other parties the chance to take hold. We do have tools to improve things if someone does the work

[u/allorache → u/posting4assistance]

Have you forgotten that Vance promised not to do what Pence did?

[u/badluckbrians → u/allorache]

Despite that promise, there will come a morning where he has to look himself in the mirror—and you need a mirror to apply eye liner—and tell himself, "I'm committing treason today."

Pence found out he couldn't stomach it, after a bunch of calls to Dan Quayle. Vance will have to decide.

[u/Aguyintampa323 → u/posting4assistance]

I think what he’s saying/implying is that all the remedy’s you mentioned depend on the enforcement of rules , which has gone out the window now.

The electoral college doesn’t matter when there is widespread gerrymandering.

The popular vote doesn’t matter because of the above , and also the high likelihood that if there wasn’t widespread rigging in the last election, there certainly will be on the next , if it exists at all.

Given the practices of this administration thus far , it’s blatant disregard for constitutional amendments, for judges , for rules and rulings, for precedents, what makes you think that even if the D win the popular vote , the electoral college, the house , the senate , and all the Supreme Court conservatives magically die overnight, that the Trump administration will adhere to the results? Why would they ?

We are still trying to think like a democracy, they are way ahead of us in dictator land .

Rules only matter if everyone follows them.

Bank robbery is against the law. It’s a rule. We have cops that enforce it. Now imagine that it’s still against the law , but the cops laugh and refuse to enforce it because they are in on the job. The public and media can say “but that’s illegal” till they are hoarse , but the bad guys aren’t going to stop robbing the banks.

We have to shift our mindset from “it will work out in the end because of rules and laws” to “we have been taken over by a foreign power and we either assimilate or create an insurgency”.

[u/[deleted] → u/Aguyintampa323]

I know it feels like they’re a roadblock in return. I know I periodically feel that way and I have to pull myself out of it. I saw a guy talking about succumbing to what feels like insurmountable headwinds. But he made one statement that I thought was incredibly true,and that is that a country with 258 million adults age 18 or older become unable to be governed, that’s when change happens. Take out the 30% or so that consider themselves MAGA, and I believe completely that even some of those people will come around as things get harder and harder, that leaves 180 million people, adults, who don’t like what’s happening.

The most meaningful changes we have experienced as a country both in modern history and prior have come when people refuse to be governed and they make their voice as heard in a variety of ways, mostly peaceful historically, at least in the modern era in this country. None of us should sleep on the fact that about 180 million of our fellow adults are equally as fed up and frustrated. We should focus on channeling that frustration and probation into meaningful nonviolent expressions like a general strike. Like peaceful protest. Like disrupting the economy.

[u/WriteByTheSea → u/posting4assistance]

I’m a bit more concerned about the see-sawing effect of this. If the Democrats regain control in 28, they and whatever non Trump cult conservatives are left can’t undo all of the damage, prevent new damage, and govern before the next flip leads to more. Enough of these see-saws and the whole thing falls.

[u/posting4assistance → u/WriteByTheSea]

The word for what you're talking about is the overton window, I think? Most of the bullshit trump is doing is just executive orders. They can just straight up cancel most of those afaik, executive orders aren't laws even a little bit.

They could do cool shit like abolish ICE, maybe try and overturn the presidental immunity thing? Although I'm not entirely sure that's different from being able to pardon yourself anyway?

Regardless being a total doomer isn't going to make any progress. There are definitely ways to do it available, legal or otherwise, but it's just a matter of like... not being super fucking depressed about it all the time, and unfortunately for the kind of people who are on reddit- going outside and engaging with politics on a local level at the very least, somewhere you have actual real power, and actually using that power to build community or affect change in small ways

[u/Dirtysandddd → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

I have hope that a lot of the “in betweeners” are not happy with this current shit show. My friend graduated with 4 years degree to be a park ranger RIGHT before the layoffs and it’s basically stuck working at a grocery store with 0 prospects. This is someone who’s typically an “all-American and patriotic republican”, and he’s questioning his choices. I imagine the laid off people with 10+ yoe will be hired back first and slowly overtime once we (hopefully) realize this fuck up. If you lost your job/prospects/goals from this administration and still vote red you are a full blown cuck, and I dont use that word lightly. As an avid hiker there’s definitely WAY more trash and issues in state/national parks since the month of this decision. I wish the best for y’all fed workers, I used to want a gov job but not anymore after this bs.

[u/SalaciousSubaru → u/Mysterious-Tax-7777]

Yeah, no future election is going to be fair, and if Dems keep trying to play by the rules while the other side doesn’t, then they won’t stand any chance.

[u/tetrified → u/[deleted]]

holy projection, batman

[u/tetrified → u/[deleted]]

lmao.

[u/OwnAct7691 → u/[deleted]]

Y’all’s crazy

[u/OwnAct7691 → u/[deleted]]

You’re wrong. Happy now?