Here’s something we could fix:
We have no recall option! WTF! We should have such a mechanism. We should ask Congress to enact a law where we the people can recall the president via votes if we can collect enough signatures just like we are able to do for other things.
We do. It’s the 2nd amendment. Literally what it was written for, the forceful reclamation of democratic freedom should it be taken by a tyrannical leadership. Too bad everyone that actually gives a damn about that option is on red team, and blue team thinks the 2nd amendment is for killing children and nothing else.
Not just the president, but any elected official.
Now why would the elected officials do something to their own detriment? You want them to act like representatives or how they’ve been acting?
Many states have done things like that. the problem is for the feds its all defined in the constitution so getting an overwhelming majority to agree to limit power needs an overwhelming push.
Imo the best thing to do would be push for a constitutional amendment that creates an initiative system that fully bypasses congress.
should
Ok now… This verb does not exist in state politics. Sooner you realize it, the better.
I should myself
I don’t understand what it’s going to take for someone to do something. Protests are not going to work when they’re holding all our money, services, rights, data, etc hostage, and threatening all our public servants. We already had a hard time protesting before this, because health care is tied to employment. It’s not a coincidence that they’re going after Medicare and Medicaid. They want an entire nation of indentured servants. Unable to own anything, including our own freedom. When we can’t work anymore we can just go die in the wilderness like animals I guess. Hmm where have we heard that before?
Everyone is terrified and exhausted. It seems pretty evident that the election was outright stolen, and I have a hard time believing nobody in power suspected something that many of us immediately called, not with the mountains of evidence that’s been stacking up for months, years even. So why didn’t they do anything? Why did they wait until Trump was sworn in to even talk about it?
I see Canadians online talking about Americans like we chose this. But we didn’t, it was forced upon us, and we’re begging for help! Who can we turn to if not our allies? What is going on???
Edit: To those claiming that I’m just as bad as the J6ers, that the election was not tampered with and Harris just ran a terrible campaign; whether unwittingly or not, you are part of the problem. You’re falling for the suppression and misinformation tactics, or you’re facilitating them. I’m editing my comment to compile some links, but let me be clear, I fully expect that you’re going to deny these facts as well, and move the goalposts again. My refusal to engage is not a concession, it’s me protecting what little emotional energy I have left.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2024_United_States_elections
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/eligible-voters-swept-up-conservative-activists-purge-voter-rolls/
https://www.youtube.com/live/284VFHrO8Nc?si=F-fk-rB6dH2_taWv
https://sos.ga.gov/news/georgias-2024-statewide-risk-limiting-audit-confirms-voting-system-accuracy
https://www.newsweek.com/democrats-voting-machines-trump-investigation-2018890
Yes, this is what NATO is for. It is an alliance meant to prevent fascism from taking hold. Just because it’s only ever been used in non member countries doesn’t mean it can’t be used on us, especially if Trump continues to threaten allies. Talking about this leading to WWIII is a strawman argument. You don’t know that will happen and it is not a good reason to not be asking for help from our allies.
To those who think comparisons to Hitler and Nazi Germany are hyperbole:
I fully expect that some of the bad actors from reddit are here as well. For anyone else reading this: Question their motives. If they’re trying to deny what we can see with our own eyes, their intentions are not good.
I will continue to add links as I’m able.
Why is it always someone else who has to do something? Why not you?
I’m doing everything I can, including starting my own group to organize locally, making God only knows how many calls to state reps, learning how to defend myself, translating for local immigrants with questions about what’s happening, attending protests and assisting in those organization efforts, brushing up on my history, learning more about international treaties and alliances, volunteering at a food bank, and some other things that I would be stupid to share.
You know what they say about assumptions.
the election was stolen
Uhhhh it is not evident at all and I’m devastated he won. Proof or you’re as bad as the 2020 election deniers.
It seems pretty evident that the election was outright stolen, and I have a hard time believing nobody in power suspected something that many of us immediately called, not with the mountains of evidence that’s been stacking up for months, years even. So why didn’t they do anything? Why did they wait until Trump was sworn in to even talk about it?
No, dems just did a piss-poor job of motivating people. I voted for her, but she wasn’t offering much other than an alternative to him. Same as ever.
Repubs motivate their people with lies and slander, but it’s still motivational for hate-mongers. Don’t sound like they did when Biden won. It wasn’t stolen. Dems failed us.
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You did choose this through decades of inaction, apathy, laziness, fecklessness. The world kept telling you that something was wrong in your “democracy” and the canned response was, “Haha, not in America - land of the free, home of the brave!” Then one day, with your rights stripped away you all finally say, “Not my fault!” It was, it is, and it will be solely Americans fault. And the longer it takes you to own it and fix-your-shit the more costly it’s going to be. As always. Imagine how much easier it would have been had you just mass protested after Citizen’s United, for example.
No one is coming to save you. The people who have been standing up to fix it couldn’t motivate the rest of you to get off the couch. My suggestion is to stop parroting excuses like, “We are too exhausted to do it”, and do it. Look to history for examples on how, and for what real exhaustion looks like. The first steps are usually meeting with organizations already doing something and ask what you need to do.
“But I’ll lose my job!” If 50% of the country loses there job then there will be a lot of job opportunities. “But my family!” Ok, then sit there and let your fear keep you from action. Keep waiting for someone to save you. Watch how bad it gets as Americas military falls under the control of a facist regime. Watch as your educational system becomes even more of an indoctrination engine. I wonder which, if any, heinous act by your government finally motivates you enough. The kids-in-cages wasn’t enough, I wonder what could be? Possibly nothing.
“Home of the brave”. Fucking ha ha ha. “Land of the free”. Sure. I have no sympathy for people just waking up now. Where the fuck have you been?
I know it probably feels comforting to claim the moral high ground and say “I told you so” but you’re just letting your own weakness infect the people on your side. Everyone has moral turning points in all of their lives and it’s a futile and stupid gesture to say your entry point is better than someone elses. Let’s focus our hatred on the people who deserve it: billionaires.
This take is lazy and offensive to everyone who truly didn’t have a choice. I’ve been in school this entire time because growing up everyone told me I could be whatever I wanted if I worked hard. Now that I’ve done that and I’m almost graduated, I’m looking around at a world that is completely unrecognizable from before and hope for everyone my age is at an all-time low. Please enlighten me, as someone who has only been a member of the civic process for less than half a decade, how the fuck is this my fault?
sorry trashboat, apparently you were the king fascist all along. it’s all your fault, and it’s very important that we all recognize that it’s trashboat’s fault. the only way things can get better is if we all blame trashboat
a) “Not my fault” should be tattooed on the forehead of every American at birth. In this they’re current president represents them perfectly.
b) Lazy, true. I didn’t put in foot notes or provide links. However, a clearer example of laziness would be responding to an internet post to complain about how offended I feel instead of starting up a browser and find out what who locally is already doing something, and what still needs doing.
c) If my little post offended you then you are not going to believe what the leader of your country has been saying about my country! He is threatening our soverignty even! So you will excuse me if my response to your offense is this: …|…
Sorry.
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The decades of inaction should be largely heaped at the feet of Baby Boomers, who have sucked up and hollowed out the vast majority of American prosperity.
Everyone else has been carried along in the wake of their outsized cohort’s rampage.
If I lose my job how am I supposed to heat my house, feed myself and my wife, or treat my chronic illness? Employers don’t look kindly on job abandonment, especially to go protest the thing businesses stand for…
I apologize to American readers that I was not able to summarize my response into a witty, 30-second sound clip. I see these assumptions made in your response:
a) the only thing you can do is protest. b) you will have to protest during your work schedule. c) all employers will fire you for job abandonment if you protest. d) no employers are equally concerned with the downward spiral that is your country. e) even with the mass job loses due to job-abandoning protesters you will not be able to easily find another job. f) no one is doing anything already you can help with. g)your job/health coverage will be fine as things escalate if you do do anything. h) no one in your position has found a way to contribute. i) no need to look at the situation or ask questions because you no you can do nothing. i) history shows that the safest bet for you and your country is to sit there and do nothing.
The reason Americans don’t have the ability to see through flimsy talking points is b/c your educational system is shit, tbh. We told you this too, every year. They are ranked. ie. we put them in numbered order from best (#1) to worst. Maybe you would have heard about it if you stopped yelling about how America is number #1 all the time. Spoilers: They aren’t number #1 in education. Clearly.
I don’t have the energy or patience to dismantle each possible excuse every American can come up to justify their inaction. They are #1 at that. So the simpler approach is from my initial response: find the people already doing something in your area and ask what you need to do. Do this instead of coming up with reasons not to do it. Do it as an act of faith in your country that you can do something. Do it as an act of freedom and bravery. Dare to do the impossible, like skipping your internet browsing time, to get in touch with people who are doing something. Read books about the sacrifices previous generations made for you to have the chance to sit and post on a non-censored platform like Lemmy. If internet posts can stopped facist governments the you can rely on us non-Americans to get the job done. Unlike us foreigners, you still have the best chance to turn this around.
Also, if you manage to waddle to meet up with some like minded individuals do post briefly here telling other Americans that it’s actually not impossible. They are an obstinate people living on the southern border of my country. And although I enjoy ridiculing their weaknesses I would prefer to celebrate their successes, as has been our tradition until very recently.
Ahh, so you aren’t even American. How is your opinion relevant then?
Because they are a Canadian and your dumbass president keeps trying to start the process of annexation. Do you have any idea how angry folk up here have become?
We are a tiny country in terms of people and a massive one in terms of land. We cannot legally participate in your systems of government in a meaningful way but we have always been effected by US political decisions and the lack of co-ordinated resistance nessisary from it’s citizens to fix the issues that affect all of us. We’ve been Cassandra warning you of what doom is about to befall us all and so often we’ve been dismissed.
I have compassion that you guys honestly didn’t want this. That this was a co-ordinated attack on your freedoms.
But I am also angry that it was slacktivist feel good measures of defiance that was the go to for so many on the left when a lot of folk on the right were using the system against you directly because finding the way to apply and lobby and interface with the system directly gets poo pooed as having to deal with and act like a Democrat…but is how the system is designed to function.
The truth is that other countries can’t help you. The only legal interface we have is through proper channels because there are bodies of law and military systems that keep us in check from interference. Technically your country hasn’t tripped the switch where we can directly meddle because that would mean a war during which we would need be defending because we have a total citizen count only slightly larger than California.
You have no such restrictions. You can use sabotage, soft resistance, legal avenues, press to leave the union, show up at your municipal and state governments with petitions, organize into actual milltias like your own constitutional documents say is a good thing for when your country had gone rogue. Your founders were edgy mistrustful bastards who designed your country with the idea that it might need to be overthrown. None of this is easy. Up here a lot of people are preparing - taking relevant coursework, getting firearm licencing and training proficiency, working with aid programs to assist refugees and using measures that change our behaviour, sometimes at personal cost to future plans or to pocketbooks.
You can ignore Canadian and Mexican voices in this squabble. Let’s face it, we’re used to it as most of your discourse likes to pretend we don’t exist. But everybody gets an opinion here and we are relevant… Because your country will crush us with the combined weight of individual inaction eventually.
Surely there will be waves of protestors being kicked out on the streets with their families, left to starve in ditches with nothing they can do.
People keep saying this, but WHO?
Who are you talking about?
Who is this “somebody” you keep talking about showing up to save us?
Look, nobody is coming to save us, and asking somebody else to risk harm on your behalf is selfish.
If we object, it isn’t on somebody else to show up and save us, it’s on us.
If you aren’t willing to make the moves yourself, who the fuck are you to ask somebody else to.
Nobody is coming to save us, folks. It’s either us, me and you, or it’s nobody.
The cavalry’s not coming. It’s just us.
I don’t trust anyone enough for something to actually be done. Buy guns, buy 3d Printers, learn to make clothing, prepate your homesteads, prepare for isolation and be ready to lean on and support your neighbors.
Be the best you can be, make good relationships with those around you, and brace yourselves . It’s the only thing I can realistically think I alone can do for me, my family, and my community.
Is it a doomer view? I don’t think so. I like to have hope that my vote can fix something. I like to think my protests are heard and considered. But at the end of the day I have to focus on doing what I actually can.
Isolation really is an American mentality but it’s not particularly great for actually striking out. If you want to atop things from getting worse Collectivist activities and thinking is your best chance.
Reach out to the people who are already doing stuff. If you have a union or a political action group, go to it and start organizing. If someone has already started organizing then join them and be subordinate. Find people who understand democratic systems and collective action and offer your time. In fighting is the luxury of peacetime so learn to do that which is not your own exact process. Set aside differences and petty disagreement and work to mutual benefit.
Learn the Roberts rules of order or how your local and state governments function and utilize channels that exist. If you have a gardening or farmers market society reach out and looking at replacing your lawn for gardens and pool with like minded neighbours. Learn first aid and stock a kit. Train your body to be fit and learn self defense. Prepare yourself to be disobedient on someone else’s behalf.
Your votes at a federal level are no longer being considered but will your protest be toothless? If you are feeling doom, reach out and find hope in solidarity.
I agree!!! When I said isolation I meant more in the place where you are, build yourself up so when your neighbors need help they can lean on you for a bit while they set themselves up when things start to collapse.
The answer is not a cabin in the woods, but to make yourself as ready as you can be so you can help others so they can get to a position where they can help you.
EDIT: and support those in your community that ARE prepared so you can help one another.
I have a similar, albeit slightly less doomer, view currently. Focus on the safety and good of your community and loved ones, and remember that nothing is guaranteed to us. Do the necessary good steps like voting and protesting, but don’t be naïve enough to think that’s the whole of necessary action or a magic bullet to solve the problems. Do the good, but focus on the real workable action in your direct sphere of influence. Cheers.
In 2016, people thought that Trump was the problem. That if Trump left, we could have civility restored to the electoral process. Defeating Trump won’t solve the problem because he isn’t it - it is the electorate. The voters need to SEE what will happen when this or that occur.
Deport all the immigrants, see the damage that brings, then bring them back with legal protections this time.
Cancel all the science, see how far behind we get, then bring it back with all the funding to make the next moonshot.
Get rid of all fogien aid, watch as our global power dimishes, the vote to bring it back with a clear and true purpose other than empire building.
The people don’t know WHY these things are important, and are unwilling to listen or learn. Thus, the only teacher is to experience. But to quote Trump: “There will be some pain” when doing it.
100%. Even after he leaves office, is anyone confident that the country will collectively go “well that was embarrassing, anyway, back to normality now!”
How, at this point, could anyone assume that in 4 years Trump will just “leave the office”?
I don’t disagree with you and I would love it if people had to experience the consequences of their poor decisions and learn hard lessons that they’ve been evading for years. The problem is that millions of innocents are and will be caught in the crosshairs. This is a matter of life or death for many people who did not vote for him and it is unconscionable to allow all those people to die just so a bunch of loud racist hillbillies with lead poisoning can learn a lesson.
There are already millions caught in the crosshairs. Its not a choice between doing nothing and saving lives, and doing something and losing them. We are losing them both ways but by doing nothing people evade social responsibility.
Fair, I just see no other way of swaying minds without consequences. We tried 4 years of shielding people from Trump’s baser urges, and we ended with thousands of people dying each day to COVID. Then 4 year later THEY VOTED HIM BACK IN.
They don’t even know what DEI means until oh hey, they’re out on disability for months+ for surgery in their physically demanding job and need help because their arm or whatever doesn’t work and/or they’ll be out for surgery for months and/or SSDI rejects their claim. The willful ignorance and just plain ignorance is really sad.
Dead on. This is a snowballing shit storm building since Reagan. Probably earlier. Trump is only a foothold, a useful idiot. He’s popular with the Boomers and knows how to work them and use the language. They even refer to him as “their boy.” Meanwhile he’s “making deals” e.g. pumping the dicks of other corpos like Xi and Putin and pretending to get them on board even when he fails with the smarter leaders while his little weasels dismantle shit in the background.
This is spot on.
Just as we saw with Boomers in the UK, who happily threw their country off an economic cliff with Brexit, America’s Boomers are equally feckless and unrelenting.
People over the age of 70 should lose the right to vote and just focus on being old and retired. It’s absurd to have people constantly voting to chop down the tree whose shade they will never live to enjoy.
To be fair, Borris was the first American born British PM. So, you could still blame us.
Will they actually see it though is the question, or will they greedily accept the new set of lies as the world burns around them.
It wasn’t stolen and it wasn’t forced on you. Depressingly enough, turkeys, it seems, do sometimes vote for Christmas. I totally agree with you about the awfulness of the situation but - he told you how he was going to govern, he told you what he was going to do and then he won the election that enables him to do it. You did, as a nation, choose this.
I don’t know how any nation state can really intervene on that basis. Its not like Hitler steam rolling Poland or Putin annexing the Crimea - this isn’t an invasion or a hostile takeover, it’s an elected President carrying out the will of the people that voted for him.
I’m not going to argue with you, I get enough of that on reddit. But there is a literal mountain of evidence, including their own statements and sketchy behavior, hard data, unsecured voting machines, various voter suppression tactics, ballots that were tossed, code that was published online months (possibly more than a year) before the election, and one of the twerps currently taking over the treasury wrote code that can falsify ballots while he was an intern for Musk.
Also, it is like Hitler, they’re using the same exact playbook, and while there are some key differences there is no arguing that this is the exact reason NATO exists. Justin Trudeau could invoke article 4 for threats of invasion. Someone from our government should still be able to invoke article 5. These international agreements exist because when the highest power in the nation is compromised, we need outside help.
Using NATO to stop Trump, you want WW3? Because that’s how you get WW3. You’re not going to get any help until you help yourselfs. It’s your house, you have to clean it up. If you need an idea of a place to start, I’d start with the Democrats.
If you have democratic senators you should be a thorn in their side about why aren’t they grinding the Senate to a halt. Why they aren’t using every tool available to resist senate Republicans. The Republicans did when Obama was president and he wasn’t a fascist. Now seems like a good time to start using all those republican cheats to blanket obstruct the Senate and Congress.
If you have republican senators you should be getting involved with the democratic party, first screaming and dragging everyone you know with you. Then demanding over and over that the old game is dead and they need you and the people to get out of this.
Regardless, no one is coming to save you. You need to first believe that you can actually work with your neighbors, then saves yourselves. Tons of Americans have been begging for your help to stop Trump for over a decade now and you thought it was just their job to take care of it. Well guess what, it was yours too and you failed to answer the call.
I’m sorry, I’m Canadian, and what exactly do you think all of NATO could do, allied and organized against the American armed forces? Do you seriously believe we could stage an effective military campaign against America? That would he suicide.
It’s just so fucked up, all of it. They’ve been pumping shitloads of money into their military for so long, it’s a behemoth larger than the military of the next, what, 9 countries combined? All that money should have been spent on things that are actually good for U.S. citizens. A better educational system, a healthcare system, more worker protections, a better social security net, trying to fix homelessness, etc.
But now, their humongous military is going to be used against their own people and their allies. And all the while I’m here thinking that a well-educated, healthy, happy populace would have been much less inclined to vote a fascist into office. But hey, they didn’t need all that, they were already the best country in the world, right?
did they falsify 86 million votes? because that’s how many people voted maga by sitting this one out.
This is literally the first I’ve heard of any of these things and whilst I’m not in North America I follow the political situation pretty closely. I’m not saying your wrong about any of it but who are the people saying this and where are they saying it? Has it been reported on either internally or externally to the US?
The overall playbook is fascist I agree but the situation I was trying to compare was Hitler invading a sovereign nation. Trump hasn’t done that (yet anyway). I’ve got good friends in the US and I am very worried about them, I’m just not sure you’re betting on the right horse by asking for outside nation-state aid. Rightly or wrongly they’ll see that Trump was elected legally and they’re never going to invade a country on that basis. There was zero talk of repercussions for Germany until Hitler invaded Poland because he followed the democratic process (or successfully manipulated it) to get elected and assume total power.
With all due respect, if this is the first you’re hearing of any of this, then no you are not following the situation “pretty closely.”
The hundreds of bomb threats from Russian servers on election day alone should be enough to convince people that some hinky shit was going on.
There’s all kinds of stuff on Bluesky, discussion on reddit and lemmy, lots of reliable sources like AP News, The Atlantic, and Gizmodo, as well as recordings of interviews with Musk, and of Trump rallies. There’s also hard ballot data from at least a few counties that has been studied by highly qualified analysts, and matches trends we see in elections in other countries that we know were a sham.
I could keep going but I’m tired and it’s just not worth it. You’re obviously skeptical, and that’s just human nature, but how am I supposed to convince a skeptic from another country who isn’t witnessing or experiencing this first hand? I’m not going to spin my wheels tracking down evidence for you, it’s not a good use of the limited energy I have left. If you’re truly curious the information is out there.
I’m not skeptical at all - I’m simply unaware of what you’re talking about. When I say I’m following the situation pretty closely I mean the political situation as reported in the mainstream press. I don’t think anyone who’s from a country not directly involved is going to be aware of every resource unless its a special interest of theirs or its their job. I wouldn’t expect someone not from the UK to be up to date with the latst developments of the Reform Party and how they’re trying to swing the narrative here. If you have links, link 'em, I will definitely read them all. I’m asking you to lift my ignorance on the subject.
The Canadians I talk to are either furiously pissed off and lashing out at me like I’m about to annex them myself or dead ass silent. This is a weird fucking timeline to say the least.
What are you asking outside forces to do? Invade America and install a foreign government because americans are unable to maintain their freedom?
Perhaps we can ask the Taliban for help
You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing? If that’s what needs to happen so that Elon Musk doesn’t irreparably damage our country and cause the deaths of millions, then yes. Please. Invade us. We’ve done it to plenty of other countries, maybe it’s our turn.
Also yeah, that’s pretty much what NATO does when shit really hits the fan.
There is no way to invade you.
Your military is 37% of the whole world. It would require literally you vs the whole rest of the world, and even then with you being a literal island, an invasion would probably still not be possible because of the supply line advantage.
I don’t understand what it’s going to take for someone to do something
Who is someone? Who is something? Organize and mobilize. I know all Americans didn’t choose this, but you’ll need a lot of support/like minded folks (which it sounds like you have). Trump’s shock doctrine has clearly worked. Try and focus on tangible steps to take whether it’s annoying the heck out of your elected officials, joining a grassroots org, or attending a public rally on an off day.
Someone: NATO. This is the exact reason they exist.
Something: Remove the tyrants by force.
Myself and everyone I know have been doing all of the things you mentioned since November, if not earlier. There have been multiple massive protests. We have been calling our reps demanding recounts, asking why democrats are capitulating to unconstitutional actions, and begging for them to intervene. We have been protesting at every opportunity. We have joined and even started our own organizations trying to get people organized. Why aren’t we gaining any traction? Because they already stopped listening to us ages ago. Because all our means of large scale organization (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) are actively suppressing information. Because every group we start gets brigaded and eventually shut down by internet trolls with nothing to lose. Because people are tired, sick, broke, and traumatized. The other day I watched an ICE raid happen in real time. These people were members of my community, good people, and now they’ve probably been sent to a concentration camp.
I don’t want to hear shit about “tangible steps.” What tangible steps can the average citizens of this country take to stop the richest man in the world, and multiple other billionaires, who already have their dirty paws in every single aspect of our government infrastructure? We can’t even get in the same room as the guy. He has choked our skies with satellites and has all our personal information.
Please tell me what else we’re supposed to do, I’m all ears.
Stop begging. Start demanding. They need to understand that democracy and unionization was the compromise. And, apparently, they won’t listen to words.
That’s neither easy, nor pretty, nor civilized. But they fucked around, and need to find out.
If you feel something, you’re never alone. Organize through meatspace, use no digital tools. Which manual are you following? There are plenty to find if you look. Don’t expect “others” to do it for you.
You think NATO should attack its own most powerful member just because hou have a hunch that the election was stolen? So like Jan 6 but on steroids?
You must be a russian troll-bot. This is the problem with the Internet, anybody can say their own crazy ideas and others will take them seriously.
“Those who shout the loudest usually have the most to hide.”
I hear you… The problem is no one is going to come save us.
Change can only happen internally.
Unsure what can be done though… Voting and protests don’t seem to be effective…
If nothing changes everyone will have to get comfortable enough to feel like freedom is fighting for.
This means first amendment up, train, and be ready for the day to when we need to defend our constitution.
The confederacy already lost once, they will lose again.
At the rate this is going I honestly don’t see any other future.
people need to start seriously protesting
Yeah but we need to stop occupying sidewalks and start occupying gated communities. The fact that protest organizers won’t do this says everything you need to know about them - they prefer passive action that does nothing but maintain the status quo. I’ve been to over 100 protests everything from workers strikes to BLM to Occupy Wall St, and i’ve learned that occupying a sidewalk that the oligarchs don’t walk on does nothing but make the cause look pathetic. We need to protest where the oligarchs will be afraid, anything less is just playing into their hands.
Yeah, that is a great first step. Especially if you try to connect and network with other people during the protests to form longer lasting groups or find and participate in already existing ones.
This shit won’t be fixed with protests alone, but if they help people get a taste for what it feels like to organize and take some power back, then it is already worth it. Hell, even being around people that feel the same way is already a net plus for a lot of people who are ideologically isolated.
Yeah like every day… none of this “we will spend one hour during our lunch break on one Wednesday!” bullshit.
Their house reps, not just the president.
An actual use. Yeah send help!
Kudos to the person who is sending the correct message. Everyone who believes in protecting the US Constitution should fly the US flag upside down.
I think we need to do more than that. The flag is a distress signal. We have to help the people who are distressed
That seems like a very bad sign. Someone wanted a message to get out to the public, but I’m not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it. Credit to the person with the balls to send out the warning, though.
When one side ignores the rules, power is the only thing that matters.
I’m not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it.
History offers no control groups; there is no “right” way to proceed. What’s certain is that “nothing” is not the answer.
History offers one very good “right” way, imo.
I’m not even joking but if this doesn’t happen there’s no hope for the future. we’re past the point of simply prosecuting and hoping they get some time in prison. examples need to be made so others know that just because the supreme court said it’s legal to do whatever the fuck you want doesn’t mean you’re getting away with it from the public.
I used to say “You know Monopoly is an old game, because it has rich people in prison”. The moment we stopped to hold them accountable, everything went really bad. And if the legal systems don’t hold them accountable, it’ll be the duty of the common people.
Maybe we should double down on capitalism again.
It’s the only move the US has used in living memory.
Like when Elon gets rid of “all regulations” make private bounty hunters/hitman legal again?
Anything is legal if it’s not prosecuted.
And with a dismantled government, how much can they really prosecute?
They won’t have to prosecute you if they just arrest you for being ‘violent’ or ‘terrorists’ and ship you off to El Salvador.
Yup. And if they’re not prosecuted for it. Then their actions are “legal” as well.
I assure you the last thing to be dismantled will be methods of enforcement on the populace.
Prosecution is one possibility. Getting gunned down is another. Getting sent to Gitmo is another. Having your family retaliated against is another.
All legal, if they aren’t prosecuted either.
They won’t - that’s why your military will soon be a judicial militia.
Maybe we shouldnt vote. Thatll show em
People should get creative. Imagine if they backed up every sewer in DC
let me help you understand.
I love that you linked this through fucking amazon.
This is gonna be in my view history on our shared account, and my wife is gonna ask if I’m okay lmao
Well, are you okay?
Actually, while we are asking, are any of us?
Would be weird if we are, with the state of everything recently being what it is.
You can actually edit your browsing history in the Amazon app if you’d like to remove that.
You reminded me me of when I was going through my dystopian fiction phase of reading the first time…I had a big stack of said novels to buy at Barnes and Noble.
They asked if I wanted to sign up for their loyalty card and I was so taken aback. Like…no…I do not want to be in your list.
;) very intentional on my part.
“50+ bought in the last month” hmmmmm
There’s nothing that can be done. Republicans have every bit of power there is. At least for the next two years.
This is the message of the enemy. I am not sure what there is to be done, but to say this:
There’s nothing that can be done.
is to give up. The only thing that we ordinary people can know is that the democratic party is unable/unwilling to form an effective resistance right now.
So we must form our own.
There is always one type of power the people have.
shitposting 🫵😎
Pissposting too 😅
I know how anyone could organize something so large, But a mass strike/walkout would have more impact than anything else right now.
None of the common people go in to work until shit stain “abdicates”
Ya seem to not gwt what he is saying, let me make it damn simply. The Tree of Liberty is watered by the blood of tyrants and patriots alike, and Freedom is earned through the barrel of a gun.
This is a strong reason why I would think it would be a tactical error to mess with the elections. Elections are the pressure valve that people are willing to wait for. You can do so much harm and all is forgiven if you step down after an election loss.
Take away that mechanism, and you put all your leadership at huge risk, for minor benefit (history has shown they can get their way like 90% of the time anyway, the “left” will barely even say anything about their material goals and let them stand).
You could rise up. Isn’t that what all the guns are for?
No, they say they want their 2nd amendment to protect their country from tyrants. But what they really meant was: to help the tyrant.
I mean the US is certainly in distress
Definitely. Do we know if the people who wanted a criminal moron in charge are still cheering him on, or are they starting to catch on to the fact that his plan always was to thoroughly fuck everyone over? Well, everyone but his clique.
They’re still cheering. No other awareness to be had
As long as the right people get hurt they’re happy.
Republicans would shit their own pants just to make us smell it.
They’re gonna be a lot less happy when they try putting armed citizens in camps and they get fucking shot.
Holy hell, the shit the pants statement is so on point.
They were wearing diapers to support their dear leader.
Time has shown that these motherfuckers don’t even care if “the right people get hurt”
As long as there is hurt, and their preferred propaganda machine tells them, they’re happy.
This is the most succinct you’re ever going to get
Everyone just giving their opinion but the answer is mixed. Some regret, many don’t. And it’s not just disinformation, people have to deal with their own cognitive dissonance. Just on the radio earlier was an Arab man still defending vote for Trump because “it’s just rhetoric” right now. He’s willing to say it’s terrible rhetoric, but won’t come to terms with the vote being a bad decision.
They will deny it until they can’t and go right back to denial the moment they can.
He’s their security blanket, their binkie. Any parent knows it’s nonsense but to the child’s mind the magic of the binkie it is real. Arguing the reality of the binkie is futile.
Parents can rely on their child growing out of magical thinking but since these are adults, we’ve got to accept they are forever lost to the magic.
Their need for president binkie cannot be argued with. It can be slipped from their grasp by logic or trickery. The magic must be shattered, utterly and irrevocably. Only they can choose when that occurs.
They’re completely caught in the misinfo and still cheering him on. Anyone getting hurt must have deserved it and if they’re getting hurt it just shows how important it is to hurt the others back.
in south park he fucks illegal canadians to death, but in real life he is doing it to americans
Eh. The majority are chillin.
This is exactly what they voted for.
The majority did not vote for this. The majority of voters didn’t even vote for this. He only won a plurality (<50%)
Inaction is an action. The majority are ok with this, otherwise they would have voted.
Given that he campaigned claiming he wouldn’t be enacting Project 2025 (even though it was obvious he would be), I don’t think you can claim people not voting are automatically okay with him breaking that very explicit promise.
No. Americans do not want this. Americans especially didn’t want it done by some nutjob private citizen who has zero authority to do what he’s doing, and no oversight.
No. Americans do not want this
Then they would’ve voted.
By not voting they are saying they are ok with either option.
That’s how democracy works. Voters can bury their heads in the sand, it doesn’t make the politicians go away.
He got the support of all the people who voted for him and all the people who didn’t vote against him.
Lucky the USA allows everyone to vote no matter what; doesn’t schedule it for a standard workday, meaning nobody has to choose between feeding their kids and voting; plans out enough polling stations so that people don’t have to wait for hours without access to food, water, or seating; doesn’t surprise deregister voters with little notice; and sends out absentee ballots reliably with sufficient time to return them…
Georgia had both mail-in absentee voting and, especially, 2 weeks of early voting including on weekends. In most places the early voting lines weren’t terribly long. On election day most places were short.
Most people still didn’t vote.
Some people couldn’t vote. Millions of assholes just didn’t bother and are partly to blame.
Big difference between all (the comment I replied to) and most
No
No vote. No opinion.
He got the majority of votes. He got the majority of the electoral.
The majority of participating voters wanted this.
Just because you guys cannot fathom how anyone would want this doesn’t mean this is the same panic inducing situation for them. The majority of politically active people in the United States of America wanted this to happen as evidence of the election we just held.
No. He got a plurality of the votes. Not a majority.
The majority of participating voters voted against him.
How many times do you need that repeated to understand?
I mean, I’m sure you’re right. What I don’t understand is how that technicality is even relevant. Even if 40% of the people voted for this, does that not still mean you have a sick and dangerous population on your hands? We’re talking about tens of millions of people that voted for a fascist regime.
It means he doesn’t have the popular mandate they keep claiming they do.
But yes. Half of adults are functionally illiterate. 5th-6th grade reading levels. They can physically read the words, but will only grasp the most basic surface level meaning. Republicans’ started attacking education decades ago. This is what they wrought.
Removed by mod
Outdated data. The votes were not done being counted on November 10th. Trump got 49.8% to Harris’ 48.3%
Ah. Fair enough. Last time I had seen it it was more than 50% still. Well then by a technicality not a majority then. I do love a technically correct statement so I’ll give you that one.
Still. More people voted for this than didn’t vote for this.
That’s not the final count
Yes thank you. It’s already been pointed out several times.
Is that the State Department flag or is it a flag near the State Department?
Relevant: https://youtu.be/ZwMVMbmQBug
Imagine being the person running this up the pole at the fucking state department.
The gravity well produced from the balls of this person (all genders included) is pulling me from miles away.
balls so big they make black holes
Black cojoles
For real. Serious props to this person.
The State is in distress. Who will answer the call? Who will come it’s aid? We have all been summoned.
(Super Mario Brothers music from stage 1-1 starts playing)
Batman?
Gondor
Is this real? Nobody is reporting on it.
This does appear to be the state department flag pole (on 21st street looking East from the state department). And it does appear to be winter, and there is construction in that area around the fed building. But that’s all I can say. The photo is weirdly blurry and grainy so be suspicious.
Which of the conservative media in the US do you expect to report it?
but all the mainstream media is run by libruls.
You write that like you’re sure it’s not real, and/or that others would or should think so. There’s no obvious thing pointing towards it being fake by just looking at the photo, no clear editing signs or anything like that. But we should make sure it is real by finding other photos, there must be more if it is real. And if there was ever a time in our lifetimes where this would be real, it’s now.
Why does the flag have no stars?
Because the image quality is poor
It clearly does have stars. They just blur into the field because the quality isn’t high enough. Zoom in and you can see there’s slightly whiter dots where the stars should be. You just can’t really make them out.
The real problem with AI is that you have to be so damn skeptical even of real posts.
It is on reddit
I’m surprised they haven’t pulled it the way they went ban crazy this morning.
Right??? Protest coordination on traditional social media is like… iffy now, at best.
It really makes me wonder how people were able to pull this shit off in the 50s, 60s and 70s when we can’t make it happen today with everything available to us.
They still had third places where they could organize face-to-face. Think union halls, fraternal organizations (which us Millennials only know about from old cartoons), churches, etc.
See also this Adam Conover video, which isn’t specifically about organizing to protest but nevertheless is pretty insightful about it.
they didn’t use maligned, monitored areas for communication… people today should coordinate face-to-face or at worst via telephone if they haven’t already exposed themselves.
Telephones have been insecure for at least 20 years. Cellphones have backdoors built into the protocol standards. Face-to-face or good encryption are the options.
Oddly, the recent thing in LA was via TikTok, but to be fair their knee bending is probably superficial at best.
Based on white people Twitter ban this is similar to Luigi situation…
People are just overwhelming their modding ability.
It will be taken down and the opposition sentiment will be supressed in due course.
I’m only seeing one source so far. Not mainstream.
It looks like this is the end.
The house has been burning and smoking for hours and people are still thinking that the fire just started
No way. Harris getting elected would have been the end of this just like in 2020. That’s why we must attack anyone critical of her, apathetic voters, and pretty much everyone else except for the DNC.
Please fuck off, thanks.
I’d prefer it if the radical liberals would fuck off so that they stop handing every election to the Republicans by running on diet-Republican policies thank you very much.
And what are you (or literally anybody else) going to do in the next two years to organize a viable progressive party with viable progressive candidates?
You sure you got the demographics right? Or do you think maybe Lemmy isn’t an accurate reflection of the nation as a whole, with respect to political ideology?
Radical liberals
Lol k
It seems like you people believe that voting for Harris (and pointing out objective reality that it was the only real choice) precludes a person from being a leftist or progressive. You alienate the people who actually probably agree with you on a lot of things because they don’t pass your purity test.
Leftism in a nutshell.
Does anyone else hear violins?
Performative resistance from inside the machine. Cute gesture, but distress signals only work when someone’s actually coming to help. Meanwhile, career diplomats keep writing memos and processing visas while posting their quiet protests on social.
Remember when we thought these symbols meant something would change? Now it’s just content for the outrage cycle. Tomorrow there’ll be a strongly worded letter, maybe some resigned LinkedIn posts from mid-level FSOs.
The machinery keeps grinding, upside down flag or not. Though I suppose watching institutional despair go viral is peak 2025.
I disagree. Yes, this isn’t the same thing as direct sabotage or anything like that, but I think symbolic gestures like this can be extremely important for morale.
I know that it makes me feel slightly better to see that I’m not alone in my frustrations.
