I’m starting to really consider the whole “reality is a simulation” angle, and whoever is running the game has put in a cheat code. (not really really, but more than I ever have before)
It’s like a shitty unrealistic movie plot has unfolded over the past decade. And every time it looks like maybe things are heading back on track, BOOM, we get another event that just turns us right back on the track to crazytown.
I’m having a hard time coming up with anything I can cling to in the hopes that Project 2025 isn’t going to go exactly as planned down to the last detail.
How are we not going to become real-world Gilead (but with more racism)?
Project 2025 won’t go exactly as planned, but at least half of it will and the rest will sow enough discord during the attempt to run the country into the ground. We will most likely still be the most powerful nation unless we split, just because of the massive population and resources available.
There are two countries on this planet with more than three times you population and enough resources to take over your position of most powerful nation if they stop fucking around and you guys screw up badly enough.
China? Maybe. India? Fucking no. We’re not even going to hit middle income trap like China. We’re going to remain underdeveloped country for the foreseeable future.
If you keep voting for people like modi yes, but you guys still have more of a democracy than China so there’s still a possibility
Nice to see you believe in my county more than I do. I’ve no hope from my country. It’s going to hell.
I don’t know, China is kind of closed off. On the other hand, there are Indians all over the planet, they go and become successful in every country on earth. They could easily achieve a Cultural Dominance Victory a la Civilization simply due to the breadth of how far their culture could expand at this point. Bollywood is way bigger across the world than Chinese cinema. I can see it happening for India, even if the country itself doesn’t develop like you think it will (which it sounds like you’re much more familiar with than I, of course, being from there it sounds like). Cultural dominance is part of what allowed Britain to dominate half the planet for a good long time, I can see Indian culture achieving a similar cultural dominance.
India still has a lot of issues and hurdles to overcome before it solidifies itself as a major super power.
It’s the rich buying off both major political parties in the US. One is paid to implement a fascist oligarchy. The other is paid to pump the breaks on the fascist oligarchy when the population freaks out.
In both cases, political bribery has run amok and unchecked. Neither party is beholden to the will of the people. Low voter turnout means Republicans and oligarchy wins. High voter turnout means Democrats and the same oligarchy wins.
The world could really do with a few more Luigis.
There’s the Reagan-appointed federal judge who near instantaneously ruled that trump’s birthright citizenship EO was unconstitutional and expressed disbelief that anyone recognized by the Bar Association would argue for such a position.
I don’t think they expect this one to hold water, but it does serve as an excellent distraction from all the other nefarious shit coming down the pipe. Don’t lose sight of that other stuff - especially attempts to liquidate the treasury into $doge, $trump, or any other shit coin. That is the monumental heist they’re gunning for, make no mistake.
It’ll be like Roe. Where they lose at every level because it’s obvious until they get to SCOTUS. Who will decide in the GOP’s favor based on the Papal Bull of 462.
He only issued a TRO, though. I am unfortunately confident they will find a way around this.
Thank you this is what I’m talking about! (Holding my breath to see if he’s somehow overridden or disbarred.)
You are experiencing what they want you to experience in this situation: A state of shock.
This is “Shock and Awe.” It’s a blitz to make the enemy feel like the task to fight back is insurmountable and to give up before trying.
Shock and awe (technically known as rapid dominance) is a military strategy based on the use of overwhelming power and spectacular displays of force to paralyze the enemy’s perception of the battlefield and destroy their will to fight
This is not a military battle, but it is clear that Trump is practicing rapid dominance. He is using the Project 2025 pre-written Executive Orders to execute rapid dominance over the US government and make us feel shocked, confused, and desperate.
Naomi Klein wrote The Shock Doctrine in response to the Iraq War, and this is the Shock Doctrine being used on the US citizenry to whip them into submission.
We must resist this shock. The feeling you have, that it is hopeless, that no one is pushing back, is exactly how they want you to feel.
Get involved in Mutual Aid. Give back to your local community. Check out of national politics, we can’t affect it anymore. Focus on building parallel systems (food banks, community gardens, community mesh-networks, community first aid) for people to rely on since we can no longer rely on the systems that Trump is actively trying to dismantle or twist to harm the American populace.
Losing hope right now means losing the long-term battle against this. Losing hope is what they intend to force you into, broken, submissive, no hope. Do not go silent into that good night.
If you’re asking for someone to push back with effectiveness, you can be one of the first by giving you skills to your community.
Yeah grow a food coop for the first band of fascist thugs that show up with guns. We need to arm ourselves and train just as much as decentralize our food. If you think they’ll go away peacefully and leave our gardens alone you’re horribly naive.
A best of post right here, thank you for the run down
I literally went and bought her audiobook after reading this post A few chapters in and it’s hard to believe it was written 20 years ago and not, like, last week.
Thanks, lots to think about there and just the sort of thing I needed.
You’re welcome. There’s lots of other real efforts, too. There’s been various successes at people preventing ICE from getting at people. I know a lot of people in /r/Seattle were doing the legwork of communications to help people avoid getting snared by ICE. The West coast will be a hold out. A school in Chicago also successfully repelled ICE agents from entering the school. Look for the helpers, they won’t be from the government anymore, they will be people like you and me.
Yes, OP’s asking where the alleged helpers are.
Putting a much finer point on it, we just got a 4 year long demonstration of how utterly disinterested Democrats are in helping.
Naomi is brilliant and you’re right, her book perfectly describes what is happening to us right now. Thanks for elevating it into the conversation!
I agree with all except the “Check out of national politics” part. You cant decide who is President anymore, but you should still keep an eye on what national laws they may pass or should be prevented from passing
Have to be honest, the shock is working on me.
Thank you! 🙏
There is !keeptrack@lemmy.world to help keep track of all these things
Not a single soul in the government is going to help or save you. I’m sorry you’re only realizing this now, but the U.S. government has never been your friend or given a shit about you. It was captured by corporate forces at least 20 years ago, and set down this path to fascism over 40 years ago by Reagan. At this point, you will have to be one of the ones to resist, and you should reach out to local organizations to resist with them.
Can the US government just fire anybody they want for whatever reason? (I’ve seen lots of things implying they can, but I’ve never seen anything stating it clearly.)
Because if that’s the case, yeah, nobody there will help. You’ll just see a lot of people exiting it.
The first day of his inaguration, Trump put forth an executive order that will attempt to make all federal employees Schedule F, basically, the same protections as a political appointee instead of a civil servant. This will make them basically at will employees.
DunkinCoder is correct they are also making it really awful to work for the federal government with RTO and freezing of funding. And the hiring freeze. But it’s not the complete picture, its actually much worse.
There will be court cases with federal employees trying to keep their jobs. I suspect they will fail, due to how the courts are republican controlled right now. The firings haven’t started yet. Expect them soon. There will be loyalty tests. There’s an email floating around asking federal employees to rat on “DEI hires”, whatever that is. Are minorities that are actually entirely qualified for their federal position a “DEI hire”? Do you get fired if you don’t pretend that they are?
Edit - article: link
Can the US government just fire anybody they want for whatever reason?
Only when a Republican is in office. When a Democrat is in office, we have to keep DeJoy running the post office.
Not really. The goal aside from probationary employees is to make the workforce miserable so they quit and starve itself in the process. RTOs (especially for those hired remotely, say states away), is one example.
“Hey the government is even more inefficient, let’s fire all the low performers.” - To the employee left doing 5x usual workload at 50% efficiency.
Who’s going to stop them?
I hate white Jesus
Yeah, white Jesus is kinda a dick. We should deport him.
Edit: but not like the Romans did.
And I hate flappy lipped, diaper-wearing, orange peel wannabe Jesus.
Indeed. Western portrayals of Jesus are likely historically inaccurate, it’s more probable that he was dark skinned
When Johnsons lips met trumps ass he pushed back real hard.
As effective as they were in pushing Biden left
You can’t push back against the person who doesn’t care. These “trump” things aren’t likely coming from trump. All he wants is attention. So as long as someone spins an idea to him that will get him attention, he will sign it. He hasn’t had an original idea in decades. So you won’t see push back in public much. It will happen between the people behind the scenes.
This is something people should point out more often. For me, in terms of policies, the real president are Vought and Peter Thiel. Two very dangerous men because unlike Trump, they are very smart and actual ideologues. The one foil they have is that their ideologies are only compatible so long as they have a common enemy in liberals. If they managed to beat the liberals they would inevitably have to fight one another for ultimate control over the ideological direction of the party (at this point in my hypothetical future perhaps the only party in America)
The next election will be very interesting.
If trump is still functional (in the goes to rallies for a successor sense), will there be someone he can or will transfer his popularity to. I kind of doubt it. Anyone able to take on that popularity is a threat to him. Maybe he would do it for one of his kids, because he might think he could control them, but I still doubt it. So he might submarine his own party.That would open the door for another boring centrist from the democrats that “plays ball” with the party elites.
If trump is too feeble to do any rallies and such. That would allow a trump like replacement to pick up the republican torch. This would push the dems toward needing a progressive trump like populist to try to win. The dem “party” (the people behind the scenes) would fight that. Just like they did when Bernie was up against Hillary. And could end up handing it to the new trump like person. This would be the path to your future one party system.
The third scenario would have trump die in office somehow. Vance would “play ball” with the rep party elite in a heartbeat. And he is more like a pre-trump politician. We saw that in the vp debate. But the party elite would probably back him. It could end up with the return of the pre trump days with boring poloticians who just do what the party elite say, with the party elite m9ving back into the shadows.
Who is Mike Pineapple?
I don’t have an article about it on hand, but there was one judge who blocked Trump’s attempt to remove birthright citizenship.
I don’t know if its different in the US, but over here a judge would not be considered “in the government”.
In the US, people consider any public sector job to be working in/for the government. Judges, Legislators, the president, TSA security, Park Rangers, Cops, Clerks at the driver’s license office, etc. would all be considered government roles. Sometimes you need to clarify if you mean federal government or state government.
The president, his staff, and his political appointees are called the administration.
Yeah we have three branches of government.
Executive Judicial Legislative
The President heads the executive branch. The Legislative branch is split into the Senate (2 representatives from every state) and Congress (number of representatives depicted by state population size). (The Vice President actually sits in the Senate and can be used as a tie-breaker (101 votes instead of of 100 senators). The Leader of the House (Congress) is third in line for the presidency. The judicial branch is mostly known to be the Supreme Court but also contains the Federal Judicial Center.
Basically. For a law to exist you have to get a Majority vote from Congress and the Senate. Then the president signs it into law, or can Veto it. (If Congress has 2/3 vote the president veto would be overwrote). Same is required to amend the constitution itself (2/3)
Also if the people don’t feel representatives have gotten their issue to the floor there are petitions. If a petition gets a lot of signatures it requires a formal response by the legislature. During the Obama administration he opened a website called We The People that allowed signatures for petitions and if 100,000 signatures were garnered it was required to get a formal response. This website was shut down during the first Trump administration in 2018.
So the Judicial branches job is to review any bill being signed into law and ensure it is not in conflict with previous laws, or deemed “unconstitutional” which would block the law and send it back to the legislature requiring them to acquire a 2/3 vote to amend the constitution where it conflicts.
The legislative branch also holds the power to oust the President if they overstep. Essentially if over 50% of Congress believes the president should be removed they can impeach him. Which sends it to the Senate. (Most every president has removed themselves upon a majority of Congress but they aren’t required to yet). When it goes to the Senate they hold a trial. A 2/3 vote of the Senate implements the presidents removal. (The Republicans in the Senate did not vote to remove Trump, and thus they never had 2/3s of the vote and he refused to step down.). John Tyler and Richard Nixon both resigned before the Senate voted.
I want to add a running theme in GRRM’s A Song of Ice and Fire is that doing gross and inhumane things may horrify us in the moment and make us feel overwhelmed but tends to turn around on those who would resort to such methods despite Tyrion Lannister’s opinion that those method are not to be excluded from all options considered.
The most well known example in the series was the Red Wedding, the marriage of Edmure Tully, Roslin Frey, which was followed by the massacre of Rob and Catelyn Stark and many others, while under the protection of the tradition of hospitality. If we ignore the GoT Season 8 revenge by Arya Stark, reputation of fell deed figured in House Frey losing allies and trade, and Frey casualties far greater than those inflicted on Stark and its allies.
IRL, Trump’s heavy-handed response to the George Floyd protests in 2020 only doubled the protest sizes in the following days. Notoriously after Putin-style LGMs (unmarked uniformed men in military gear abducting citizens without due process) and brutal police action at the ICE building resulted in the moms joining the protests and then the dads (who brought their wireless leaf blowers).
An example that will be applicable to the US is the rise of the French Résistance during the German occupation of France. Despite efforts by German administrators to advice soldiers to stay polite, they couldn’t help themselves and were brutal to the French civilians. The people started engaging in light direct action, tearing down or defacing German propaganda, slashing tires, cutting phone lines, until they found each other and organized. Within two years, they were a formidable fighting force.
Yes, the find out portion of the upcoming era is going to be harsh. People who need services and supplies will not get them. Police will be cruel to folks at the border, and may even hunt down migrants and Trans folks like the SS after Jews. It will be fucking scary, but it will turn bystanders into resistance sympathists, sympathists into activists and activists into militants. And yes, it appears police just can’t help themselves but be brutal, and the resistance will not only feel justified in cutting them down, but will eventually hunt them to the ends of the earth to assure they see tribunal, even when the last guard and bureaucrat is ninety.
Plenty of despots around the world stayed in power for decades and died peacefully in their beds. Tyranny as a means of maintaining power is a “solved problem” and Americans are no smarter or more sophisticated than the citizens of North Korea, Cameroon, Congo or Uganda. Or Spain or Portugal for that matter.
Yes. And if we go down that path, not only will millions perish in the purges, but then China will take us economically, and may be the Allies to our Axis.
And much like Germany, the brain drain and infighting at the top ranks will slow them down and become an exploitable weakness.
If we’re not careful, we’ll organize a rebellion and overthrow the Trump regime only to have it replaced with another despot, and then (as the pattern goes) another and another and another until everyone knows someone who’s perished in the fighting. And that’s no guarantee of a democracy.
It’s one of the reasons I’ve advocated we do something that (AFAIK) we’ve never tried before, and create a constitution before we try to overthrow the government. Make it public; get legal experts to pick at it for loopholes and exploits to close until it’s ironclad. And then, unlike the constitutional framers of the US, don’t let the fighting leaders take place as administrative officials.
But I’m a novice at history and sociopolitical studies. Maybe we are doomed to a century of tyranny and all we have wrought will burn in fire. But I know instances have occurred in which something different happened, via non-violent resistance, even.
At this point get involved with your mutual aid orgs and community orgs. The more of us that organize to resist, the more likely it will actually succeed.
PS: To borrow some phrasing from Donald Rumsfeld, You build a society with the people you have, not the people you wish you had or might have at a later time. But we do still have access to the internet, and not just Facebook and Twitter, even if a lot of people barely move beyond social media. We have the resources to train people to think critically, to develop class consciousness and civic and political literacy.
Having an idea of the government we want to have before shit goes down is a great idea. I’ve thought about writing down my thoughts for what a better government would look like and maybe I should do that. I’m sure none of us randos on Lemmy would be the people in the room where it’s happening, but if we talk about it maybe we can influence it.
If you’re near a university, get your butt to the law school department and ask professors how feasible this is. (Buy them lunch if possible / necessary) And if it’s as brilliant as it sounds, they might be able to hook us up with the legal experts necessary to follow through.
We are in very interesting times, which may give the notion more traction than a far off whimsy.
We have colleges here in Sacramento. I’ll see what I can do here.
One BIG thing to consider is that in other countries citizens weren’t nearly as well armed as the U.S.
An even BIGGER thing to consider is that in other countries the armies under the control of the leader weren’t nearly as well armed as the US
MAGA ICE Jesus no hablo ingles
Buy a gun and practice marksmanship, you limp-wrist coward. Complain online while doing nothing and watch the world burn or do what I do and join an LGBTQ marksmanship club, protest, give back to local community with volunteer hours,.
Using a slur and telling someone to join an LGBT group is certainly a choice.
Is “limp-wrist coward” a slur? Seems more like an insult of someone’s habits.
On the off chance you’re somehow unaware, limp wristedness is an extremely common negative stereotype of gay men.
I can only say I was genuinely unaware of that. I’m now curious as to the chances someone might “invent” such a phrase aimed at political keyboard warriors, not knowing its homophobic nature.
What habits?
Complaining about politics online instead of taking action.
Join a LGBT+ friendly group, don’t be a a fuckin fairy about it.
Please don’t demand that people casually buy guns. They are a massive responsibility and require total vigilance of all safety rules at all times when being handled or carried. Get armed, but only if you’re willing to handle the responsibility. Not everyone can own a gun, it’s always best to advocate for educated self defense with an emphasis on de-escalation.
I actually have more hope. Every fascist regime ultimately fell and outside of the billionaire controlled media it will be difficult to burn the records.
The reality is that a two tiered justice system will always create a group of people who feel emboldened. The correct response is to document these people’s crimes, and stay mad. If the opportunity to hold them accountable comes, take it.
The democrats still aren’t taking this seriously because they will be among the last to be targeted directly. Their friends are still people like Netanyanhu who flout a similar multi tiered justice system.
Work toward building local governments who will push back and provide resources for people who need it.
I don’t know if this is necessarily a good thing, but I’m a firm believer in the political pendulum, and I believe that if Trump fails to provide what he promised to the working class in terms of economic prosperity we will see the rise of a left wing populist movement in America (perhaps the first of its kind?). I’m not talking a Bernie Sanders Social Democrat but a full blown socialist movement. The risk here is that this movement could rise from within MAGA itself, keeping the cultural/social framework (aka white nationalism) but ditching the economic framework (capitalism). Already there are factions within the alt and new right that flirt with socialist ideals.
Already there are factions within the alt and new right that flirt with socialist ideals.
Examples? Seems inherently contradictory.
When has cognitive dissonance and being contradictory stopped the right wing in the US?
https://www.greeneuropeanjournal.eu/imitation-game-the-rise-of-conservative-socialism/
This next article describes it very well
https://quillette.com/2022/12/27/on-conservative-socialism/
This is more relevant to Europe but I have seen discussions in online boards with similar ideas in the US. The alt right is defined more by its desire to remove immigrants and anti elite sentiment than any economic ideology. For proof see how protectionist policies are very popular among them, when anyone who is fundamentally capitalist would be against them. They see globalism, a fundamental feature of capitalism as a threat to an ideal white Christian society.
Remember how Athenians called themselves a democracy but excluded everyone but rich males from participating in it? It’s a similar concept.
I actually have more hope. Every fascist regime ultimately fell
Sometimes it takes a world war to do that.
If the opportunity to hold them accountable comes, take it.
We had that opportunity. Biden and the AG he appointed squandered it, and there’s no indication that it won’t happen with the next corpodem.
