I have made a scholastic study of the Third Reich for the past thirty years. Rest assured, I have a clue how much worse it would be. I'm scared to death of Agent Orange.
@bitcodavid@GottaLaff@willbunch I'm trying to decide whether getting our passports up to date is overreacting. We're too old and decrepit to transplant readily, and our resources are meager. But...history is looping back to nightmare territory, and the nation is refusing to wake up. Contingency planning for the worst while hoping for the best. Never thought I'd live to see this, the GOP welcoming the leadership of Nazis and fascists; worse, under the thumb of a certifiably demented man-child.
We applied for perm residency back in 2018 or so, and it took 3 years. Our age is usually a factor, but we got in somehow, likely because of Mr. Laffy's work.
I wrote 2 blog posts on the How and Why of this, if you want to see them. Just let me know.
@GottaLaff@bitcodavid Thank you, this is very informative and helpful. Recommend reading both parts to anyone interested.
When I learned how much of the German Nazi personnel were pardoned for war crimes and imported to America after WWII, I wondered for years if this wouldn't eventually result in a creeping permeation of our country by these vile ideologies. Now we know.
I haven't surrendered hope, despite an obvious prognosis. The quantum universe supports miracles, given the right effort.
@GottaLaff@bitcodavid You're wise, and you have children to consider. I fault no one for relocating, nor do I think it premature. Images of Nazi bulldozers pushing piles of nude corpses into mass graves burned into my mind when they showed us films about WWII in grade school. I've read The Lucifer Effect. I've lived in Texas all my life. I have few illusions about the many, many people, seemingly ordinary, who nurture a lust for murder and torture deep in their ugly hearts. Not all, but enough.
@Cotopaxi I'm Jewish. I have those images in my head too. And my kids are nearly 40, and living there now, trying to get PR. I wish we were with them! @bitcodavid
@GottaLaff@bitcodavid Oh Lord, preaching to the choir again. I gotta get a new shtick, lol!
I've worried a lot about my Jewish friends and acquaintances since the demon in a meat suit started stirring the cesspits. I want to reach out and ask if they're OK, do they need anything, but haven't wanted to aggravate a bad situation by drawing more attention to it, or accidentally reinforcing any sense of discrimination. Ditto for other targets of hate. So inept at this. It all sucks so horribly. 🥺
@GottaLaff@lin11c@bitcodavid Exactly. Good intentions or no, ham-fisted bludering into that minefield of sensitivities seems like it would make things worse, not bettee.
@GottaLaff
yeah, we made the decision to have a place to go, ourselves. Costa Rica has a few rather reasonable paths for residency...well worth looking into if folk are looking at options. (Portugal was a thought...but it seems to be slipping as well (sigh) @lin11c@bitcodavid@Cotopaxi
"But over the past few years, outrage and despondency are breaking and entering my thoughts, sleep, and well-being. Insecurity has loomed where comedy once romped. I miss feeling safe. I want my family to feel safe."
@GottaLaff@bitcodavid Thank you, I will! Very happy you and yours succeeded in relocating. Hubby and I are useless old retired people, so I'm not sanguine about our chances of another nation welcoming us. But if things get very bad, a backdoor out would be a vital first step, assuming that avenue is available. After that would come the pleading, begging, and weeping for permission to live in safety.
I don't ponder this lightly, a last resort. But they're telling us Who They Are. I believe them.
I had originally said Australia only because it's the furthest English-speaking place from the former United States. But my wife probably won't leave, and I'm a very committed husband. (Or maybe I just should be committed.) Anyway, maybe I'll be what will become the American Bielski brothers.
2/ "Here’s what millions of Americans seem to be getting wrong.
The truth is that whatever you think about the 45th presidency — whether you remember 2017-21 as when lunch at Five Guys wasn’t $24 or whether you recall the Muslim ban or families ripped apart at the border — doesn’t really matter much. That’s bc a Trump 47 presidency would look nothing like the first one, and nothing like anything most Americans have even seen before, unless they’ve been hanging out in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary."
3/ "We know Trump’s third run for the White House centers on plans to rule as an autocratic “Red Caesar” because he has told this to voters in rallies and interviews, again and again. What’s more, the specific blueprint is hardly secret, but spelled out explicitly by the candidate’s advisers in reams upon reams of publicly available documents — especially the nearly 1,000-page Project 2025 plan drafted by the Heritage Foundation and other far-right think tanks."
4/ "What’s striking about Trump’s campaign: un-Trump-like willingness to learn something new: how to be a better authoritarian ruler. His team is studying both what did and didn’t happen during his presidency +gleaning insights from even closer ties w world’s growing network of other rt-wing populist strongmen...
But the paranoid style also fits a presidency that he’s said would be motivated by “retribution” against both his own enemies & the leftist elites despised by his most rabid supporters"
5/ "Critical for both Orbán and for Trump’s second-term blueprint is firing dedicated civil-service employees throughout the government and replacing them with functionaries loyal to the party and its strongman. Trump proved this past week that his plans should be taken not just seriously but literally when he engineered a massive, Orbán-esque purge at the Republican National Committee, firing some 60 employees, many of them veterans."
6/ "Under Project 2025 blueprint for a Trump presidency, the WH wouldn’t just fill current 4,000 political posts in govt w hardcore MAGA loyalists, but change classifications so that as many as 40K employees would become “at-will.” This means they could be fired by the WH— much like the sacked RNC staffers —& replaced by minions similar to Bobb or Lara Trump. It would remove the web of non-political public servants that Trump claims was “Deep State” that thwarted many of his first-term schemes"
7/ "This is at the core of what voters aren’t getting about how different, and how radical, Trump’s second act would be...A new MAGA team might act on a GOP House referral to prosecute President Joe Biden, or not object to a mass Jan. 6 pardon...
Project 2025 scheme would mean that the bad aspects of Trump’s first presidency would be many times worse the second time around. This is especially true for immigration"
8/ "Project 2025 calls on its hoped-for next president to issue an executive order to reject any federal science tied to the National Climate Assessment and to gut if not altogether kill key offices like those within the Energy Department tasked with the transition to clean power. Trump’s second election would all but ensure that America will fall short of the carbon-reduction goals meant to stave off the worst climate disasters."
9/ "A lot of Trump supporters seem eager for the apocalypse. One of the most misunderstood aspects of Trump’s blueprint is its deep roots in Orbán-style Christian nationalism. ..Writer Jenny Cohn recently reported that a key player in the Project 2025 team is the Center for Renewing America that openly promotes “Christian nationalism” for Trump’s would-be presidency, working with advocates for ideas like the end of no-fault divorce or curbs on contraception."
10/ "Why aren’t voters rebelling against this with torches and pitchforks? Some of it is surely that “collective amnesia” about the worst of Trump’s time in the Oval Office, coupled with overfond memories of a stable economy in his first three years before it melted down amid COVID-19 in his fourth. And of course, there’s a sizable minority of Americans, especially Christian fundamentalists, who want authoritarianism in a president who would smite their enemies."
11/ "But the biggest reason for the missing alarm about the prospect of Trump 47 might simply be a lack of information. The New Republic’s Greg Sargent recently reported on a poll of 400 voters deemed gettable for Biden in three swing states, including Pennsylvania, and found the vast majority didn’t know about Trump’s “dictator for a day” comments, or that he’d echoed Adolf Hitler in calling enemies “vermin” and claiming migrants are “poisoning the blood” of America."
12/12 "You can call it voter apathy, but a lot of the blame belongs to a mainstream media that’s not banging the pots and pans like it should be and remains much more obsessed about the horse-race odds of who wins the election than the stakes of an undemocratic presidency. One of the great tragedies of an American dictatorship will be when citizens claim they weren’t warned about this. Because the truth is out there."
@GottaLaff And what happens to the news organizations outside of Newsmax, OAN and maybe Fox once the dictator is in place? They all get shut down or are forced to deliver whatever “news” the dictator wants spread. These organizations don’t seem to realize their survival is at stake as well. MSNBC will be the first to go dark.
@GottaLaff there is also the refusal for people to believe that he will do what he says. The thing I got most tired of was people claiming he would never really do what he said, and if he did they couldn't keep supporting him. Then he would do it and they would keep the support up.
I really don't think I can do it again. Especially knowing its permanent
@GottaLaff I call it ‘inverted totalitarianism’. Actually, that’s what the late political theorist Sheldon Wolin called it; and I found his books analysing the democratic backsliding of the United States (which were written in the 2000s, by the way) to be…exactly in line with my observations of liberal democracies in general.
@GottaLaff Whereas totalitarian regimes are the result of a violent revolution replacing a weaker regime, an inverted totalitarian regime is the result of a regular, liberal democracy increasingly adopting corporate means of governance and taking a managerial approach towards how elections are conducted.
@GottaLaff
And half the electorate are considered enemies!!!
-- "And of course, there’s a sizable minority of Americans, especially Christian fundamentalists, who want authoritarianism in a president who would smite their enemies."
@GottaLaff I seriously think this plays a much larger role that most want to admit. Even Trump seems to be modeling himself for the role of antichrist despite appearing to not be smart enough for the role. Still waiting for some one to start pushing the covid/rapture theory. Most probably reluctant to admit they did not make the cut.
Sadly, the Project 2025 stuff ain't going away, even if Trump loses. Reckon the next Republican who makes it into the white house will use the same blueprint.
Perhaps Biden's 2nd term can install safeguards to the system, using Project 2025 as a checklist? Here's hoping.
@GottaLaff I’ll say it over & over (as do you)- too few people are taking his 2nd run for the presidency seriously. Missing in all of this is how the MSM and many on the left have blamed Biden for things he hasn’t done and haven’t given him credit for things he has which has led to malaise among voters. NPR recently reported that Black voters are increasingly leaning towards voting for Trump 😳 not that they would be to blame for a 2nd term but it certainly indicates how the media has blown it.
@GottaLaff Remember that in 45’s first term:
-the Democrats controlled the House.
-Russia hadn’t invaded Ukraine
-Israel wasn’t obliterating Gaza
-Earth hadn’t yet experienced its hottest year ever
-we didn’t know that 45 was hoarding national secrets in cardboard boxes for unknown purposes
Who knows what he might do to make some of these situations even worse a second time around? Spread enough lies to incite civil unrest to declare martial law, perhaps his unfulfilled goal post Jan 6?
@GottaLaff (NFL)
I've blocked out the overwhelming stress of the first few weeks of the 45th term. Every day was a new executive order that was clearly unconstitutional and/or illegal. The "flood the zone" tactic was effective. There were too many things to keep track of. We just had to block it out for our own sanity.
Thank goodness for @marcelias and his army.
@GottaLaff
"Trump 47 presidency would look nothing like the first one, and nothing like anything most Americans have even seen before, unless they’ve been hanging out in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. (Instead it's been)
...spelled out explicitly by the candidate’s advisers in reams upon reams of publicly available documents — especially the nearly 1,000-page Project 2025 plan drafted by the Heritage Foundation and other far-right think tanks."
@GottaLaff one of the things that upset me the most about people focusing on the price of things now vs 4 years ago is that we know where the money went. We know where the extra profits from the jack prices are going. Big business is funneling revenue back into shareholders in a way that is, in my opinion, straight looting companies (and damaging their long term health in the process. I'd argue that Boeing is a perfect example of this, and it isn't new this year.
@GottaLaff@willbunch the polls have been consistently wrong in the same direction all of this year. They have always understood biden and made Trump seem untouchable . The opposite has been true, consistently, so I'm not 0aying attention to those anymore
@GottaLaff@willbunch I don’t think the polls are accurate. This reminds me of all the polls which showed a massive red wave in 2022 which were massively off. These pollsters are focused on the economy and they’re ignoring thousands of pissed off women.
@GottaLaff@fjwheeler@willbunch that’s not what every pundit and pollster was saying, there were countless articles written about Clinton having a massive advantage in the electoral college. I think the SCOTUS reversing Roe v Wade was a massive reason as to why these polls are just missing the mark, they’re underestimating women. Always nice talking with you but have to run.
@GottaLaff@willbunch
If they'd had aired genuine concerns about the rigged system (i.e. the Electoral College) instead of just trashing the place and treating it like a public toilet, well there might be some justification for pardons. As it is they're guilty of insurrection if not treason... but the Orange Liability and his attack on US democracy was enabled by lies: by the lies of Fox (pretending to be, and not alone) 'news'.
@GottaLaff@willbunch The media only prints what it wants seen. What it wants seen will sell ad space. They promote chaos because that sells ad space. President Biden could really be up 30 pts and unless we are willing to dig into it how would we know? I have a hard time believing or trusting those that want to control my knowledge and my time. Vote Blue
@GottaLaff@willbunch Meanwhile, only AP news has reported the stupidity of denying Jan 6 never happened or was 'just people visiting'. Really? ONE news outlet?
@GottaLaff@willbunch
And still the democrats stand behind the pro genocide guy, ready to compete with Trump for the votes from the maga crowd in their red hats, while those who will not vote for genocide are looking for a candidate to vote for.
@GottaLaff@leeloo@willbunch
I'm beginning to wonder what all the people complaining about "Genocide Joe" will do if Trump wins.
Like, when Trump announces that the US no longer considers the Palestinians people and will fully support Israel's right to all of Gaza and the West Bank, and the killing campaign goes into top gear with full US support, when the entire population of Palestine has been completely cleansed with the US president cheering on the death... is that a victory condition here because we didn't support Biden being wishy-washy?
@GottaLaff@willbunch It’s beyond my understanding how the Democrats didn’t choose anyone better than senile Biden. There are supposed to be the two best candidates, and apparently both parties chose the worst. Unbelievable.
@GottaLaff@jirirbr@willbunch There should be a function in social media that takes a close look at someone who has been blocked as much as this obvious troll deserves to be, and asks whether he should be allowed to stay.
@GottaLaff@willbunch If he gets a second term we are all fucked! He’s perfectly capable of using nuclear weapons. He needs to do a drive by in a convertible near a grassy knoll in Texas…….
@GottaLaff He won’t listen to you I’m afraid. He’s perfectly capable of killing hundreds of thousands more than he already has. You do understand irony I hope…
@GottaLaff@jaycee Thank you, Laffy. My parents remember vividly the assassination of President Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. I hope none of use ever have to live through that again, it can cut both ways, especially in today’s environment.
@GottaLaff@willbunch Ahh, the media owns a big chunk but they aren’t nearly the only kid-glove handlers owning a major part of this. Other polls already prove a criminal conviction of any sort woulda sunk 🍊 🤡 with independents, but alas its too late for that now.
@GottaLaff@willbunch No. Everyone knows how authoritarian and bloodthirsty he is.
They just don't think it will have anything to do w them. And it was only one? Two? generations ago white families were crying "But things like that don't happen here!" about school shootings.
Clearly never heard the genuine Nazi argument that just because someone is a good person is no reason not to kill them.
They should probably know about that.
@GottaLaff@willbunch All I can say is wait until November. Because most of us Democrats will vote in droves when it matters. And there isn't a damn thing that these right wing trumplicans can do about it.
To these so called undecided voters: Things can always get worse. It only seems to get that way under a republican leadership. Kinda like how the national debt grew by about $7 trillion under TFG. So, just "vote, blue no matter who."
@rlstone4dems@willbunch They're already doing something about it. They've gone to court and will continue to, to change election outcomes. So droves or no droves, they'll cheat and sue their asses off.
He's hired much more lethal operatives this time around.
@GottaLaff@rlstone4dems@willbunch I'm deeply concerned too... I don't know how long we can continue like this... It's almost as if this is a never ending cycle...
Obviously, these swing voters (by definition, not MAGA cult members) don't pay ANY attention to the news (excluding Fox) to not understand all this and still support Trump. They must be living under a rock to be so clueless, and I don't know what (legitimate) media can do about that.
@GottaLaff@willbunch recent poll showing Trump up by 2 points have a margin of error of 3.1%. So we can not tell if Trump is ahead or tied or behind slightly from this poll. I wish the media would start reporting margins of error along with poll results.
I understand your concerns about the RNC take over, however organizations with significant layoffs take months or more to recover effectiveness.
I don't think this reorg is going to be handled very well, I could be wrong, but you can expect >20% decline in productivity from teh survivors and that means less money raised (for example).
The purge of many experienced employees suggests a substantial loss of institutional knowledge and the person running things, Lara Trump, has no experience running this sort of operation.
Trump himself has a long history of mismanagement and destructive management practices in his own businesses.
They only have weeks to get this fixed. I doubt it will go well.
@GottaLaff I always appreciate your commentary however in this case I am pretty convinced that they are going to loot the RNC and fail completely to reorganize it into an effective organization. There's not much money in the RNC right now and there are literally weeks to go untikl the election.
Trump does not care about anyone but himself so he will have a lot of heartburn about spending money on other candidates when he does not have to do it.
@dangrsmind I appreciate that and agree. But while that's happening, they're dangerous. The fact that they've hired smarter, more lethal operatives now is nothing to ignore. The fact that they're already going to court to change election outcomes is nothing to ignore.
They're already more dangerous than his last Keystone Kops team.
The GOP is already destroyed. Now MAGA is destroying democracy with more force.
@GottaLaff I'm not convinced there is anyone "smarter" in the RNC now but I am not an expert on these people and their resumes.
As far as the Michigan court case, I definitely share your concern there. However, there's no reason to believe the RNC is the most effective group to be running that. I seriously doubt this is true.
It's a clown show and it is clowns all the way down.
I remain optimistic that there is going to be a serious wipeout of the Trump party in November.
@dangrsmind You must not have watched Maddow on Monday. Or maybe it was another show, can't remember. They ticked off who the hirees are now. One is Chris LaCivitam and yes, he's "smarter."
So are some of the others. I wish I could find the segment for you.
They're not all "clowns" this time around. Be aware.
@GottaLaff I don't watch any television so nope I didn't see it.
The problem Trump has is that his policies are unpopular and he is also unpopular.
2020 election was quite close, with some states being decided with under 5% difference (e.g. Florida and North Carolina)
If even 5% of Republicans can't bring themselves to vote for Trump he loses in a historic wipeout.
That said, it is way too early to say what will happen. If I am forced to make a prediction today I will predict a historic wipeout of Trump and rebuke of his policies.
@dangrsmind Trump has no policies. He's only out for Trump.
I don't doubt that the popular vote will be for Biden. It was for Hillary too. That's not what matters.
And now that his team is more adept, I'm not confident. At all. They're going to be way better at cheating, rigging, legal blocks, etc. They already are, and now we have AI in the mix.
And since you don't watch TV, you missed out on one hell of an explainer of all of this.
I'm actually an expert on AI disinformation and I worked for the DoD for 20 years. So I do not need to watch a TV segment about it.
AI generated disinfo is not nearly as effective as people imagine for now. It's not better than human generated disinfo.
But of course we do not always know what is under development out there.
I also know all about election cheating and how hard it is to actually do at scale. I'm very skeptical here as well. Legal machinations are something I am not qualified to evaluate personally.
I base my election predictions on an electoral college model that considers the number of possible outcomes in favor of each party state by state. FWIW.
It is way too early to make a high probability prediction and there can definitely be an "October surprise" or some sort of nefarious rat f*cking.
That said, Biden won the electoral college in 2020.
@dangrsmind He won when Trump's team was still filled with amateurs.
Wow. Okay.
I guess I'm just blowing smoke then? Because you worked at DOD and I happened to see some good reporting on TV, but TV doesn't count because you don't watch it?
That was a little dismissive.
Btw, I don't do election predictions. I don't do speculation. I look at what's happening, and let it unfold while observing based on what I see right now, not in the future. I worry, but I don't predict.
@GottaLaff I'm in the business of predictions and teach a class at UC Santa Cruz about it called Computational Futurology.
I am dismissive of TV and popular media analysis of these issues because the "analysis" is commonly just based on emotional responses or what generates interest in the story aka clicks not serious analysis of facts available.
@GottaLaff@dangrsmind Ahhhh there it is again, the popular vote. I think this is where it goes wrong in America, the one who gets the popular vote should be the winner !!!!!! And if Biden gets the popular vote ……. Or am I an idiot? #VoteBlueToSaveEveryone#BidenHarris2024
@GottaLaff I'm with you on this one. Very, very dangerous for any number of reasons.
Not the least of which are that a significant portion of the business and political elite supports him, that this just foreshadows the fate of US institutions should he be reelected, and many people are again underestimating him.