• DandomRude@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    It’s interesting that this regime is already behaving as if the dictatorship it clearly aspires to has already been established. They obviously feel quite confident about their cause.

    Well, they can afford to be, because it doesn’t look as if they have anything to fear in the way of consequences. Every day, I read alarming reports about abuse of power, open corruption, systematic racism, absurd policies that run counter to the interests of US citizens, blatant disregard for the law, and the involvement of high-ranking government officials in prostitution and pedophilia. But I never read anything that would suggest that those responsible are being held accountable.

    I therefore assume that the establishment of a dictatorship à la Russia is already so far advanced that it won’t be prevented - and by that I mean a transformation of the plutocracy that has long been the norm in the US into an unvarnished autocracy, including all the associated methods of repression, in other words, the transformation of the US into a full-blown dictatorship.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      It’s interesting that this regime is already behaving as if the dictatorship it clearly aspires to has already been established.

      Unitary Executive Theory has been on the table since Nixon. To say “we’re not already living in a dictatorship”, you really need to squeeze your eyes shut, stay perfectly in your lane, and not ask why we have the largest prison population on earth.

      I therefore assume that the establishment of a dictatorship à la Russia is already so far advanced that it won’t be prevented

      Well, obviously, the Russians are naturally predisposed to being ruled with an iron fist, because they have bad genes. Once the American people have been cleansed of the social rot, we’re going to see the kind of Liberty and Freedom that our Founding Fathers could only dream of.

      Or, at least, that’s what Steven Miller and Steve Bannon and the last half dozen Joe Rogan guests have told me.

    • OminousOrange@lemmy.ca
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      11 days ago

      Fake it til you make it.

      If they see no consequences to their actions, it only makes them bolder to go more extreme.

      • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        I don’t think they were aware of what this meant for them. Discussing why they voted the way they did, and why so many apparently didn’t vote at all, seems rather pointless to me now.

        The question seems to me to be whether the American people will manage to shake off their agony and fight back. Despite the protests, which are naturally to be welcomed, I see no signs of this happening. I don’t think this will be enough, because these protests are not large enough to pose a threat to the government— and to my knowledge, there are no plans for a general strike.

        It seems to me that the majority of US citizens have already resigned themselves to their fate or are not prepared to take the necessary risks to defend what remains of their democracy, which is a shame because I don’t think the majority of US citizens want a dictatorship (maybe some still don’t comprehend what this actually means for their lives).

        Therefore, in my opinion, things will turn out as feared, because no resistance is to be expected from the Democrats, and I consider a recourse to the legal system to be absolutely unrealistic—it is already too deeply infiltrated (the proof of this is the fact that the incumbent president is still the incumbent president instead of being in prison for all his serious crimes).

        I’m sorry to be so pessimistic, but I think this assessment reflects reality.

      • Zorque@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        The majority of Americans who bothered to show up want this. A plurality decided they didn’t care either way and decided they’d rather just stay home.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          The majority of Americans who bothered to show up want this.

          The majority of Americans who were enfranchised and bothered to show up and weren’t so turned off by the ongoing genocide that they could choke down another vote for a dim-witted would-be technocrat.

          A plurality decided they didn’t care either way

          In Texas, the state legislature imposed a host of reforms to the election process that made lines longer, registration more difficult, and kicked more people off the rolls. The sitting liberal Attorney General of the United States didn’t do shit to stop them.

          Consequently, voter participation in the state plunged a full 6% from 2020 to 2024.

          This is, presumably, because over 1M people just got a case of the lazies.

        • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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          10 days ago

          its actually worst than that, they dint even know biden wasnt running anymore, or asking how is it affecting them now and being in the target minority of the gop,

      • Soulg@ani.social
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        11 days ago

        The majority of people who voted, voted against him. Use your brain, if you have one.

            • mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              11 days ago

              Even if we assumed every single third-party vote would have gone towards Harris (which isn’t true at all), there were only 2.6m third-party votes. That would just barely allow Harris to eke out Trump in regards to the popular vote, but still wouldn’t have won her the electoral college.

              She was a fucking unpopular candidate. No way around that. She started off strong with a lot of excitement, but then failed to separate herself from Biden’s boring policies whatsoever. Democrat voters are tired of the existing establishment, and the democrat party ran an establishment candidate.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      They obviously feel quite confident about their cause.

      The real question is whether they have the momentum to keep it going. Even the MAGA types are getting tired of the impacts these decisions have on their lives. Yes, a group of bros got in power and took over, but they are falling fairly flat at each attempt. In the end, most of what they have done is symbolic. We will get back to some sense of normalcy soon enough.

      • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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        10 days ago

        I’d say what was passed under the name “big beautiful bill” is sadly more than just symbolic and the deportation of thousands upon thousands of foreigners is not either.

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Holy shit, that’s Caligula levels of conceit. Next he’ll make his dog a fucking senator.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      11 days ago

      But he isn’t a dunce.

      He is a fairly intelligent, highly manipulative sociopath.

      He did this because he is reasonably confident there will be no negative consequences for him doing this.

      And he is likely correct about that.

      Trump, on the other hand is an actual dunce, a brutish moron, who can barely even read anything that isn’t a page of bullet points and/or constantly praising him / fluffing him up.

  • frunch@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Obama’s ethics czar on this ridiculous display:

    “it creates the appearance that the vice-president of the United States is getting special treatment that’s not available to the average person who wants to utilise that body of water for recreational purposes.”

    • teejay@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      “Creates the appearance”? I hope he’s careful he doesn’t burn himself with that hot take. We’re out here drowning and these mfs keep clutching their pearls.

    • snooggums@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      That will never register with the average person because it isn’t clear and direct enough.

      “The vice president is abusing his power for personal enjoyment.” is the same thing but understandable by the general public.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Guy who doesn’t believe in climate change once again pulling the big “Cover Up The Consequences of Climate Change” lever so he doesn’t have to personally look at the results of his public policy.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Annoying the marines is normal ruler bullshit, but annoying the army corps of engineers is a kind of stupid reserved for those who use outhouses during tornado warnings. You dont want them to quit, they keep the Mississippi River in place

    • skuzz@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 days ago

      As if those in power have any idea what they are doing. They were handed this giant complex machine called America and are just sitting with their thumbs up their butts hitting it with a sledgehammer and whining why it won’t play “Don’t you forget about me”.