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.

[EyeKhan]

I think they genuinely believe this is politics as usual.

The more I hear about the boat murders, the more astonished and angry I get. It is straight up murder and the justifications for any of it is flat out lies. Trump's going to be sharpening his pardon pencil before this is over. And speaking of pardons, what the actual fuck! He literally does not give a shit about right and wrong or crime and justice. Its all for sale.

[Loki]

He cares just as much as his supporters do.

[Aimless]

I think they genuinely believe this is politics as usual.

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m73wn6dm3g2d

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m73wfghlom2q

I think they genuinely have shit for brains, literal shit.

Look at the unhinged dehumanizing racist rants about Somalis:

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m74foitdzj2u
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m74fgtwx6c2x
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m6znie6z4c2u

Crickets from Omar's own party.

The media calls it "a different view": https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m73v444xuc26

This is not a democracy, it's a shithole country.

[Steely Glint]

Trump could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and the Democrats would say he should have used a lower calibre and aimed away from by-standers

[Aimless]

Trump could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and the Democrats would say he should have used a lower calibre and aimed away from by-standers

Unless the bystanders are immigrants or leftists

[Being]

Huh, looks like you all received Trump's cease and desist letters.

[Hazir]

Well, one year in I came to the conclusion that the USA really isn?t a place I should visit. It isn?t just the nazi-vibes, but also the people making money of putting innocent people in holding pens in the south.

[EyeKhan]

Well, one year in I came to the conclusion that the USA really isn?t a place I should visit. It isn?t just the nazi-vibes, but also the people making money of putting innocent people in holding pens in the south.

Aww, that's been going on in the South for ages. Are you brown? Talk with a funny accent? If yes to those, you should probably keep your distance. Otherwise, welcome!

[Loki]

Or Minnesota. Or LA. Or DC. Or Portland. Etc.

[EyeKhan]

And now the news is reporting German soldiers being deployed to Greenland presumably to defend the island against (shakes his head and sighs) seizure by the Untied States military. Its meaningless to talk about the absurdity, the sheer lunatic stupidity of it. Because yes, it is very much conceivable, and idk, *likely* that the US would be at war on some level with Europe in 2026.

Oh, and Trump literally extorted the Nobel Piece Prize from the Venezuelan opposition leader. Will NO REPUBLICAN stand up and point a finger at this fucking monkey and scream ENOUGH before its too late?!? Or, like you all will reply, it IS too late. It was too late when the US justice system could not imprison this criminal for his real and legitimate crimes given FOUR FUCKING YEARS. Consequences of no opposition leadership. Fuck me. Fuck me fuck me..... fuck...

EDIT: Where is Lewkowski to crow about how great it is that America has finally become his dream regime? So telling, sickening, so literaturesque, so piece of shit, he goes silent when all his trolling became real life. Fuck he's probably got a gig in ICE, I hear they're hiring lots and lots of fine men to be ready for martial law when the 26 elections get cancelled.

[Lor]

EDIT: Where is Lewkowski to crow about how great it is that America has finally become his dream regime? So telling, sickening, so literaturesque, so piece of shit, he goes silent when all his trolling became real life. Fuck he's probably got a gig in ICE, I hear they're hiring lots and lots of fine men to be ready for martial law when the 26 elections get cancelled.

I remember the days of debating this character we called Lewkowski - from memory it was like head butting a brick wall. Needless to say his/her views were far to outlandish for my current liking.

[Aimless]

EDIT: Where is Lewkowski to crow about how great it is that America has finally become his dream regime? So telling, sickening, so literaturesque, so piece of shit, he goes silent when all his trolling became real life. Fuck he's probably got a gig in ICE, I hear they're hiring lots and lots of fine men to be ready for martial law when the 26 elections get cancelled.

Lewk is a talker, not really a doer. He prefers to terrorize people he has easy access to.

[Loki]

And now the news is reporting German soldiers being deployed to Greenland presumably to defend the island against (shakes his head and sighs) seizure by the Untied States military. Its meaningless to talk about the absurdity, the sheer lunatic stupidity of it. Because yes, it is very much conceivable, and idk, *likely* that the US would be at war on some level with Europe in 2026.

Oh, and Trump literally extorted the Nobel Piece Prize from the Venezuelan opposition leader. Will NO REPUBLICAN stand up and point a finger at this fucking monkey and scream ENOUGH before its too late?!? Or, like you all will reply, it IS too late. It was too late when the US justice system could not imprison this criminal for his real and legitimate crimes given FOUR FUCKING YEARS. Consequences of no opposition leadership. Fuck me. Fuck me fuck me..... fuck...

EDIT: Where is Lewkowski to crow about how great it is that America has finally become his dream regime? So telling, sickening, so literaturesque, so piece of shit, he goes silent when all his trolling became real life. Fuck he's probably got a gig in ICE, I hear they're hiring lots and lots of fine men to be ready for martial law when the 26 elections get cancelled.

Yeah, but what about Hillary's emails?

[EyeKhan]

Apparently those 1,500 airborne troops the Pentagon is rousting out of Alaska to supposedly deploy in Minnesota are specialized in arctic warfare. Minnesota is cold this time of year, sure, just not arctic cold. But Greenland is....