Voices: At 86, I have never witnessed an internal threat to democracy as grave as today’s
Voices: At 86, I have never witnessed an internal threat to democracy as grave as today’s
“Our nation’s constitutional order, together with the quest for a more inclusive and just society, will live on — if persons of goodwill promote and support them,” writes Andrew Bjelland.
The consequences: Never before has a former president who is as flawed a candidate as Trump — an individual some have called cognitively challenged and psychologically unstable and who believes in nothing other than himself, his appetites, his instincts and his autocratic ambitions — evidenced, according to major polls, a 50% chance of reelection.
Never before has such an individual commandeered a major American political party, garnered the loyalty of its most radical and/or opportunistic power-players, and forced its moderates to choose between cowardly silence or the termination of their political careers.
Never before could such an individual, if reelected, stand so thoroughly empowered to reject experienced advisors who are faithful to the Constitution — reject “the adults in the room” who might rein in his most authoritarian impulses — and instead appoint loyalists who will do his bidding. In addition those loyalists will enact the fusion of executive-branch dominance, faux-libertarianism and Christian nationalism mapped out in Project 2025.
Never before would such an individual, if reelected, be so thoroughly insulated against criminal indictment and prosecution — all due to the wide-ranging and much criticized presidential-immunity decision rendered by six conservative justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.
For those of you who like to use the bad faith argument that Democrats fear monger every 4 years. THIS IS NOT NORMAL AND HAS NEVER HAPPENED IN OUR COUNTRY.
VOTE! Our lives literally depend on it!
Just a reminder that both Congress and the administration could have pursued charges for treason on day one.
Yep. I've been saying it for almost a decade, since I saw what appeared to be focused data-science-driven PsyOps campaigns across SM and reddit — emanating from the conservative cinematic universe — well before scandals like the Cambridge Analytica one aired.
I believe MAGA is an intentional, concerted, malicious effort by the corporate shadow-plutocracy to formally overthrow American democracy, utilizing the pre-existing religious indoctrination and psychological weaknesses instilled in the population via decades of intentionally poor education and anti-intellectualism. They already achieved a functional takeover long ago, by simply funding 90+% of state and federal politicians, and ensuring the candidates most likely to win on every ballot are in their pockets... but the democratic systems are still in place, and candidates who can't be bought like Bernie and AOC represent a significant risk to their future control and profits.
You want evidence? Literally everything that has happened the last decade... Why is Trump not serving life in prison? Why has he slipped through everything all the while being guilty as sin? Why is he a week away from potentially seizing control of the gov he tried to overthrow? Why did all the insurrectionists get a slap on the wrist? Why was the capitol so poorly and incompetently guarded after MAGA had spent weeks blanketing SM with their plans to storm the capitol? Why have most corporations and wealthy donors continuously funded Trump, MAGA, and Republican candidates right through tearing off the mask and going full-fascism? Why is it a week away from the election, and the richest man in the world — a foreign national — is allowed to openly campaign for the traitor and donate millions of dollars to him, after being offered a job regulating his own businesses? NONE of this is freedom. It's blatant corruption by a plutocracy who possess zero morals or ethics, and want to rule you like a king. A system by the rich, for the rich. They feel zero need to hide any of it anymore, because they're banking on the mentally ill, indoctrinated cult they've been crafting; if it fails, there's always next election. They're confident they will never face any consequences, because they are the system; they are the rule of law.
Tech bros, health bros, hydro homies, Peterson bros, Rogan bros, crypto bros, proud bros, apostolics and evangelicals (NAR and 7MM), etc. And especially libertarians.
All finely targeted avenues that arrive at the same destination.
The destination they almost arrived at in 1933.
Which is about where we are in the rhyming scheme of history.
Combine that with Jesus camp. And here we are.
I just want to highlight how important it is to have an incredibly weak and feckless opposition party for the above strategy you outlined to work.
Literally all of this is solvable if the Democratic party had a spine or some cajones. But decorum, tradition, and "norms" mean more to the Democratic Party than they do anything else. The DNC is all about maintaining their entrenched power at the cost of all else. And its exactly why the MAGA movement was able to take hold. The DNC are blatantly corrupt, and completely disinterested in the will of their voters.
And for the sake of not appearing politcal, they chose to eat his shit and smile rather than send the orange fuck and his ghouls into a firing squad.
Totally unrelated historical fact: Hitler's attempted coup failed, and he was appointed as chancellor later on in a completely legal manner.
Even worse, the liberal candidate who previously ran against him for the presidency and won is the one who appointed him chancellor in an attempt at appeasement. It was shortly after that the enabling act was passed that gave the chancellor supreme power.
Hitler was handed power by a liberal "reaching across the aisle," with the thinking that he would just prove himself incompetent and lose support.
I don't know how some people are still asleep at the wheel on this. America is nazifying.
I mean they've literally announced loudly at the MSG rally that they want to purify the country. They've been saying it for the last 8 years or so with more coded language. To be fair some people seemed to have gotten a clue these past few days.
I don't think we've ever seen Republicans support the Democrat candidate in the manner before? That alone should be a wake up call to anyone who is still some how living under a rock.
It may not have happened here, but it sure as hell happened in Germany 85 years or so ago. How did that turn out?
Ask Anticolonialist. They're one of the chucklefucks who believe democrats fear monger about fascism every 4 years. Dude acts like Trump has been around since the start of the country.
I'd like to know why my comment was taken down since I broke no community rules. @jordanlund@lemmy.world you usually leave a reason.
How long will America take to enter the war against fascism when the war starts in America?
Lmfao. Thanks for this laugh
We had a pretty good run. We became a democracy in 1965 or so. That’s a solid 60 years.
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