47th President of the USA : D. J. Trump

[EyeKhan]

A big motivator for quite a few congressmen, democracy-be-damned: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/08/b...s-wealthy.html

It could be that when you think your wealth is extreme enough to insulate you from any bad thing the government or general society may do, then you stop giving a crap if the government is a democracy or whether bleeding the government of revenue causes all kinds of harm. I don't know, I haven't found myself so wealthy. I'd like to try it and see if I manage to keep some kind of citizenship ethic...

Regarding the Brown Shirts, that's the second time I've seen ICE compared to them. I wonder if ICE knows what happened to the original Brown Shirts...

If the Dems fold without something that at least *looks* like a concession, they are fucking themselves yet again. They'll just (continue to) appear weak and useless and lose any kind of momentum, such as it is, that may be building.

[Loki]

The fundamental problem with Democrats (including two of their SCOTUS justices) is that they refuse to admit that we are no longer a democracy. They're playing checkers while the GOP throws shit on the board and repeatedly throws Democratic pieces off the board.

[EyeKhan]

The fundamental problem with Democrats (including two of their SCOTUS justices) is that they refuse to admit that we are no longer a democracy. They're playing checkers while the GOP throws shit on the board and repeatedly throws Democratic pieces off the board.

And....they caved with nothing to show for it.

[Loki]

They used it as political capital in last week's elections. With those done, they didn't have a reason to maintain the pretense that they care.

[EyeKhan]

They used it as political captain in last week's elections. With those done, they didn't have a reason to maintain the pretense that they care.

Wow, you've gotten dark.

[Loki]

The US basically suffered the same level of democratic backsliding in 9 months that took Russia and Hungary nearly a decade. At least in those countries, the decline was gradual. Here, people have no excuses. The fact the Democratic Party is pretending everything is fine doesn't bode well for preventing more brazen acts of authoritarianism. That's separate from disastrous policy decisions, like killing hundreds of thousands of people already due to the defunding of USAID.

If only there was another example of a Western democracy being far too lenient to a failed coup plotter just to see him gain power a few years down the line.

[Steely Glint]

I don't think the MAGA movement is going to survive in the post-Trump world, but the structural damage to US democracy will be permanent which will lead to even deeper and more pervasive corruption, unless the Democrats plan to surprise us.

[Loki]

I don't see how you fix the problem of treasonous judges, completely dismantled government departments, pardoned traitors, tens of thousands of brown shirts, and a broken society without reverting to some form of authoritarianism.

[Steely Glint]

There would need to be constitutional reform.

[Aimless]

There would need to be constitutional reform.

There would need to be a public registry of motherfuckers

[Aimless]

The US basically suffered the same level of democratic backsliding in 9 months that took Russia and Hungary nearly a decade. At least in those countries, the decline was gradual. Here, people have no excuses. The fact the Democratic Party is pretending everything is fine doesn't bode well for preventing more brazen acts of authoritarianism. That's separate from disastrous policy decisions, like killing hundreds of thousands of people already due to the defunding of USAID.

Even though the collapse has been sudden, the decline in resilience/rise in democratic vulnerability has been gradual, with every voluntary and reversible step taken in plain sight for well over a decade. Indeed, many of the threads on this forum and on CC before that have been about those steps towards democratic collapse - and the shit-eating self-serving complacency of some forum members has perfectly mirrored the complacency of the people most responsible for the decline.

It could be that when you think your wealth is extreme enough to insulate you from any bad thing the government or general society may do, then you stop giving a crap if the government is a democracy or whether bleeding the government of revenue causes all kinds of harm.

We live in a society; they live in a country club.

Regarding the Brown Shirts, that's the second time I've seen ICE compared to them. I wonder if ICE knows what happened to the original Brown Shirts...

I honestly don't think these assholes are ready for the post-Trump era. Right now they feel like they have impunity, but all their names and many of their worst actions can be recovered from govt. records. Even now, many of them look absolutely terrified on photos showing them pointing guns at angry citizens - these motherfuckers are not prepared for the experience of being a universally hated occupying force. In my own country, people viewed as collaborators did not have a pleasant time of it after the war. I don't expect anything quite that terrible for most ICE & BP brownshirts, but I think they'll find it difficult to live in a society where everyone including their own kids know they betrayed their communities in the worst possible way.

If the Dems fold without something that at least *looks* like a concession, they are fucking themselves yet again. They'll just (continue to) appear weak and useless and lose any kind of momentum, such as it is, that may be building.

Truth is Democratic elites only know how to use power against their own. They're more allergic to winning than your average cop is to imaginary fentanyl contact. Losing has always been the easiest way for them and their hangers-on to put food on the table, and they'll keep at it until irate voters replace them with compelling and hungry candidates. And I think that's already happening.

[Aimless]

Trump knew, and they all knew Trump knew:

https://bsky.app/profile/sahilkapur..../3m5gs422zck2k

https://bsky.app/profile/democrats.o.../3m5gxhgyrte2m

[LittleFuzzy]

The fundamental problem with Democrats (including two of their SCOTUS justices) is that they refuse to admit that we are no longer a democracy. They're playing checkers while the GOP throws shit on the board and repeatedly throws Democratic pieces off the board.

Fetterman I get. He was only ever in it for networking and contacts to make bank as a post-service lobbyist. Others. . . how blind do you have to be?

[LittleFuzzy]

There would need to be a public registry of motherfuckers

There is no reform that fixes this. Constitutions and the rule of law in general are fundamentally an illusion (like currency). People buy into them and everyone agrees to go along, but nothing MAKES it happen or keeps it that way. If power is amassed and those with it choose to disregard the norms, they're able to do so. What has happened in the US is the illusion has been made bare. Even if the magats don't shit all over the next two elections and illegally seize power, they've pointed out to everyone who comes after that the instant you get enough of the basic controls of government on your side, you can do whatever you want. No reform is going to fix that. It may delay things a little while but it's still the same exposed illusion.

This gets fixed with the application of force. A reminder that governance is also fundamentally an illusion and the power it provides is limited by the force you can successfully bring to bear when you lack the consent of the governed or face their active resistance. Once that contest gets frightening enough and painful enough, THEN the illusion can be reset with a "new" system because everyone wants to pretend and buy in to end the chaos and the interregnum has provided a plausible excuse for things being different now.

[Aimless]

There is no reform that fixes this. Constitutions and the rule of law in general are fundamentally an illusion (like currency). People buy into them and everyone agrees to go along, but nothing MAKES it happen or keeps it that way. If power is amassed and those with it choose to disregard the norms, they're able to do so. What has happened in the US is the illusion has been made bare. Even if the magats don't shit all over the next two elections and illegally seize power, they've pointed out to everyone who comes after that the instant you get enough of the basic controls of government on your side, you can do whatever you want. No reform is going to fix that. It may delay things a little while but it's still the same exposed illusion.

This gets fixed with the application of force. A reminder that governance is also fundamentally an illusion and the power it provides is limited by the force you can successfully bring to bear when you lack the consent of the governed or face their active resistance. Once that contest gets frightening enough and painful enough, THEN the illusion can be reset with a "new" system because everyone wants to pretend and buy in to end the chaos and the interregnum has provided a plausible excuse for things being different now.

Tbc I wasn't talking about reform

[Loki]

Fetterman I get. He was only ever in it for networking and contacts to make bank as a post-service lobbyist. Others. . . how blind do you have to be?

I think they genuinely believe this is politics as usual.