just imagine this with other existential threats. "a meteor the size of the moon will crash into the earth in 5 months if we don't do anything. so please vote for the meteor kindly changing course. btw current polls show that the meteor has higher approval rating than I do so please stop that too"
There's another theory why this is: calling Trump an existential threat is just a dishonest way to try to make people care about voting. They want to win for reasons that have nothing to do with how much in danger democracy is.
I think the immunity ruling of yesterday ended the U.S.'s checks and balances against a King, Monarch, or in more modern terms, the Unitary Executive. Overturning Roe Vs. Wade was the Judicial Branch warning shot.
I predict that in the future the U.S. will have a new revolution, but it'll probably be at least a century away. "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
When it comes to the Democrats and* the left* — from the Biden campaign on down to the activists
What's with calling out the left on this, when the closest they get to a leftist organization they take issue with is a climate advocacy group. The left has been pretty clear that Biden is not the man for the moment since the go, and for our troubles, we've been called everything from stupid and naïve, to privileged white people who don't care about insert minority group here (and ignore that not all leftists are rich, white people, there are plenty of POC active in leftist politics, though critics, often privileged white people themselves, do love to erase their existence in the same breath they claim to be looking out for them), to either useful idiots or fully cognizant agitators working on behalf of enemy states. Centrist Democrats and liberals have been the ones trying to tell anyone who will listen that the same old play will not just be good enough, but is actually our only option to win, and they're trying to leave the left to take the fall for their mistake, yet again.
Some of it is political calculation. If the president steps aside, the logical candidate is Vice-President Kamala Harris, but Harris has struggled in office and her poor poll ratings mirror those of Biden. If the Democratic Party tries to sideline Harris and open the door to other candidates through an open convention, they risk alienating her and her supporters and opening up further wounds in the Democratic coalition.
What, risk all four of her supporters? Oh, darn, there go the chances of winning ever again.
Democrats are not going to win with a staid campaign by the usual corporate boot-licking line of candidates they've relied on up until now. The sooner they accept that and get behind a candidate who is pushing for systemic changes on issues that actually resonate with your average Americans and the problems they face in their daily lives, as opposed what matters only to their donors, the better for them this time around. Heck, if they actually follow through and make some of those changes, even better.
there are plenty of POC active in leftist politics, though critics, often privileged white people themselves, do love to erase their existence in the same breath they claim to be looking out for them
you must be a 1st generation american, poor, brown, gay man because you're clearly me since i had the same thought 1/2 the time i engage w a liberal on the lemmyverse. lol
the other 1/2 the time i spend trying to think up of a comeback when they imply that i'm a chinese or russian bot or shill.
Sure, just watch the debate and see whose cognitive function is still intact. Clearly, it's not Biden. That was the most embarrassing debate I've ever seen.
Trump hasn't been able to debate past 2004. Every single sentence out of his mouth since before his first 2016 campaign has been either gibberish or lies. I'll take a doddering old man over a pathological liar every time if those are my two options. Not to even mention Trump's extremely obvious dementia and extremely obvious fascist tendencies, racism, sexism, 34 felonies, convicted sex offender, on tape saying he'd like to fuck his daughter, on tape partying with Epstein, on tape committing voter fraud, can't stay awake at his own criminal trial, moans and complains and cries at every little thing that hurts his widdle feewings....
And this is the guy you want running for president?
And everyone around him is doing a great job and not bringing about a christofascist dictatorship ruled by an atheist narcissist compulsive liar real estate millionare...so yeah, the best of two options. I don't care if the face-man is old, I am voting against project 2025.
Trump operated within the lines of democratic institutions. Y'all really throw the word 'dictator' around like candy. I really don't think you know what a dictator is.
making sure that we're able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I've been able to do with the with the Covid, excuse me, with, um, dealing with everything we have to do with, uh, look, if…we finally beat Medicare.
and
Look, there's so many young women who have been, including a young woman who just murdered and he went to the funeral. And the idea that she was murdered by a by by an immigrant coming in to. They talk about that.
I'll admit it. I was one of the people who loved it when Trump started rising in the polls. I'm far from a Democrat but I believed that he would be the easiest Republican to defeat. I was so very wrong and my whole view of my country has changed since 2016.
He's only a threat in so much as they can turn it into political donations. The rest of us, on the other hand, see an absolute menace ready to implement fascism. But Dems are ok with just having scary news articles and no real action.
Biden's speech was infuriating. Just came out and basically said "This is bad. I'm not going to do anything about it. This is just the way it is now so I hope we always have good presidents from here unto eternity. Good bye." and then doddered off stage.
The pompous condescension completely undercuts any point you were attempting to make. I hope I end up the opposite of whatever you are as I get older. Have a great life.
More that he spectacularly failed to even land the words, and gave Trump the high road position. Millions of people saw Trump tell Biden that they should be adults.
Honestly you guys are fucked, Even if Biden scrapes a win these are going to be the stakes every 4 years until the US turns into a dictatorship. Fuck knows how that's going to affect the rest of us around the world in the long run.
One thing that might save us is if Trump dies without managing to get elected. A sizable chunk of the GOP's base are people who worship him specifically, and if he were gone it might splinter them. But it's hard to know how that would play out for sure. The situation is definitely very, very grim.
DeSantis flopped miserably the last time he tried. The ones that are diehard GOP supporters will indeed flock to whoever is thrown at them, but the GOP has tied themselves to Trump because he has a cult that they rely on to get enough votes to win. It's been 20 years since they've managed to get someone other than Trump elected.
Cults of personality don't work that way. They don't get replacements. They can try, but they're not likely to reach a critical threshold of votes. They may not even reach a House or Senate majority, and Project 2025 can't go ahead at the federal level without all three.
And while asshole despots like DeSantis are a dime a dozen, Trump is unique in his absolute lack of shame or any kind of self-awareness whatsoever. He won't stop, ever, unless someone physically makes him.
Exactly this.
Also, MAGAs are weak-minded followers types. If their leadership falls, they fail permanently. They are still scum, but they are as they have been for years, squirming under rocks...where they belong.
Best-case scenario is when Trump's gone, the MAGAts can't agree on a replacement to get behind. A lot of Trump's base are people who hate the government, including the GOP, and only vote because of him. We'll see what happens with them eventually.
He is indeed a symptom, but he's also something more, a cult leader. You're right that the rot will be there regardless, but the GOP needs every single person willing to support them to vote to stay in power. There are a lot of people who specifically worship Trump, not the GOP.
He's also a complete moron, therefore easy to control. And lord knows there no shortage of fools that'd line up to replace him. No, the problem runs much deeper than Trump.
Yes and no. Do you honestly believe that the GOP likes being attached to him? By all accounts, most people who have to work with him hate him. But they just can't get rid of him. If he were that easy to manipulate and replace, they would have done so long ago, to get a more predictable stooge. No, there's something about him specifically that they need, or at least, they think they do.
It’s the chicken/egg of politics, really. Does Trump represent his base or does his base represent him? Do politicians campaign on the wishes of their constituents? Or do their constituents develop their views based on their politicians?
Regardless of his importance, Trump is very much the enemy, as are the other things you mentioned. Hopefully I'll get the chance to find out just how important he was after he's gone.
Trump won't be so easy to replace - if you want proof, look at how the GOP stuck with him even after he lost an election. No political party has ever done that in modern times. There was a (sorely missed) period where we didn't hear from him for quite some time. You'd think during that time a big, evil organization like the GOP could have found a better replacement that's smarter more predictable, but no, they desperately want his cult for their votes. Replacing a cult leader can be difficult, especially since Trump is such a uniquely horrible person. Usually, the leader has to give their blessing to someone else to transfer leadership, and that's something Trump would never, ever do.
I disagree with this, I think the Republican Party is waning and they’re now in the sweet spot where they have a large enough base to enact a fascist takeover but not enough to win by appealing to the electorate. If they aren’t able to change the rules in their favor in the next couple cycles I think they become further marginalized and lose their chance.
That’s not to say we won’t face a similar problem again after we have a party realignment, but I do think the GOP specifically has a limited window in which to seize power.
As long as corporate capture isn't addressed fascism is only going to get worse. We're angry that our politicians have sold us out. The dim ones will listen to the guy that blames their inability to have a decent life on immigrants, gays, trans,, taxes, regulations, ect.
I agree with you there, but I think the upper class is going to increasingly push their agenda through the democrats rather than the republicans, and I think the republicans though perfectly willing to sell out will regardless lose power if they can’t seriously cement their hold somehow.
Yup, as the weak-willed establishment Republicans realize the insane people can't win anymore, they will turn tail and bail on them. Then the shitty people can go back under their rocks and moderate conservatives can come back into power.
Hopefully the Democrat's constituents can get ranked choice voting through so this doesn't happen again. Then we can get critical thinking education spread and the lunatic fringe right-wing wond be able to live here anymore.
Yes, but at least European countries have more than 2 parties, making them more resilient. It also makes it easier to kick the fascists out of power after they got in.
Fascism is very much growing in Europe as well, but the situation is not as dire.
Not all of the EU. Some countries have managed to recover from a far-right party taking control even, like Poland's "new" coalition that took power back from the far-right PiS. I know it looks rough when you're looking at monsters like Le Pen making gains, but Europe still has a chance.
Not a fan of the article throwing leftists and activists under the same bus with the Democratic party. Also rich how the author claims activists aren't acting like it is an existential threat but they are dumb for not endorsing Biden.
It's on purpose. Democrats whole platform is "other side is evil and you'll go along with anything we do." If you mention this on Lemmy, people put their tin foil hats on and call you a Trump supporter. Now we have two fascist parties that we "have" to vote for.
But thank God those people who call me a Trump supporter are also trolling users (of most likely Asian descent) about how evil China is and they should like Biden better than whatever Winnie the Pooh's real name is.
Edit: I just reliazed that Winnie the Pooh reference is more than about the shape of his face. I'm sorry I just reliazed that ,I never put two and two together till just now. I am very sorry about using that.
The Winnie the Pooh reference was because of his overall shape, not just his face. Specifically it was about a picture of him and Obama where the proportions of both leaders were fairly similar to a picture of Pooh and Tigger walking together.
Winnie the Pooh is also Xi Xinping's nickname on Chinese bloggers. It was a way to avoid Chinese Censors and still talk about him without explicitly getting disappeared by the Chinese secret police. It worked for a while, but the jig is up and everyone knows that Pooh is codeword for Xi now.
Its a nickname embraced by Chinese specifically. Its not racist at all but instead its us Americans trolling Xi Xinping by taking an codeword/insult used by the internal Chinese dissenters.
That's very funny. As I brushed my teeth before heading to the office for a few hours, a thought hit's me, "has this meme been racist this whole time?" Thank you both for the explanation. I was over thinking this.
The never do. Despite the system constantly being corrupted in the opposition’s favor, they just roll over and talke it. IMO it’s a money problem. The big donors want the ROI, and big businesses are dictatorships. Those dictatorships align more with fascist/conservative policies more than they do liberal so democrats don’t want to upset the big business donors by inconveniencing their profit stream.
They sure aren't. IMO, If Biden doesn't attempt to exercise his new presidential powers, the Dems will be partially responsible for the fascism that follows.
Better to act first than wonder if you have permission. Take the action necessary, let the courts hash it out months later after the election is over. As long as it's an official action, there should be no problem.
