r/politics • u/thenationmagazine The Nation Magazine • 25d ago

Soft Paywall Mahmoud Khalil Is the First Activist to Be Disappeared by Trump

https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/trump-arrest-detention-mahmoud-khalil/?nc=1
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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago edited 25d ago

Trump is learning a lot from his good friend Putin. So far he has reined in the billionaires, attacked his neighbours and is starting to make people disappear. Pretty scary when you think about it. The US is no longer the land of the free and it only took one election.

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u/profzoff 25d ago

Rodrigo Duterte, the playbook Trump's following is strikingly similar to what transpired in 2016 in the Phillppines. The stop gap there was the military not willing to play and support him. There's a great memoir by Maria Ressa, How to stand up to a dictator: The fight for our future (2022) that details her fight for press freedom, democracy, and truth in the face of disinformation, poltiical persecution, and authoritarian threats.

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u/sinisterfaceofwoke 25d ago

Duterte has been arrested by the ICC today so let's hope Trump gets the same ending, sooner rather than later.

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u/B0rnReady 25d ago

If I'm not mistaken I believe America is exempt from being held accountable by the international criminal court? Someone fact check that ...I'm driving

Edit: we are technically exempt... We are not a party to the Rome statute So the ICC has no jurisdiction over the US or its citizens. Trump will not be held accountable to the ICC

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u/_DCtheTall_ 25d ago

Yea you can thank John Bolton and the Bush Jr. administration for that.

Bolton called taking the US off of the ICC the "highlight of [his] career," by the way.

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u/gmapterous 25d ago

And Bolton hates Trump. Another face-eating leopard strikes again.

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u/_DCtheTall_ 25d ago

Yea it should serve as a stark warning that the person who gloats about no longer holding Americans accountable to international law considers the current regime too extreme...

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u/keeden13 25d ago

Bolton only hates Trump because he ripped the mask off and showed everyone what the Republican Party has always been.

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u/gmapterous 25d ago

Face, ripped his face off. They are the face-eating leopard party, after all.

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u/SpecialEdShow 25d ago

Not enough to have done anything when he could. No reason to when there’s a sweet book deal waiting.

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u/ObligationAlive3546 25d ago

Why are you redditing while driving

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u/ihateyouguys 25d ago

Because driving is fucking boring duh

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u/overcomebyfumes New Jersey 25d ago

If you reddit while driving, driving may become really exciting quite suddenly.

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u/unoriginalsin 25d ago

Not for long.

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u/nabulsha Tennessee 25d ago

Look up the "Hague Invasion Act" or how it's formally known, American Service-Members' Protection Act of 2002.

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u/tico42 25d ago

You're assuming he will be an American citizen when this is all over.

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u/eggplantsforall 25d ago

I'm pretty sure the US congress passed a law that basically says "we have the right to invade The Netherlands or anyone else if you try to hold a US citizen accountable at The Hague"

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u/CaBBaGe_isLaND America 25d ago

Not only that, but there's a law that was passed by Congress that says the U.S. military is required to take the Hague by force if one of our military or political leaders is taken there against our wishes.

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u/armed_renegade 25d ago

Neither is Israel, it hasn't stopped the ICC from issuing arrest warrants.

The ICC can still issue warrants, and could arrest a US citizen if they were being charged with serious international crimes, e.g. war crimes, genocide etc.

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u/sinisterfaceofwoke 25d ago

You're right but hopefully he'll end up behind bars one way or another.

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u/Sekret1991 25d ago

BUT we can be arrested by Interpol if we ever leave the country!

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u/JadedJadedJaded 25d ago

I thought Trump just revoked any law or the department that would have him arrested by the ICC

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u/ki3fdab33f 25d ago

He was arrested by cops in the Phillipines because of a warrant the ICC issued. The ICC has no real power. Or means to enforce international law. If the DOJ/Marshalls won't follow through that warrant would just be a useless piece of paper.

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u/Dark1000 25d ago

The ICC warrant was enforced because Marcos allowed it to be enforced. The Marcos and Dutertes have had a major falling out over the last two years.

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u/DapperCam 25d ago

Doubt Trump lives long enough for that 

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u/Dr-Mumm-Rah 25d ago

Fully convinced that fate would have Trump die on the toilet the night before he would be transferred to prison.

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u/TheRETURNofAQUAMAN 25d ago

The only reason duterte got arrested is because the Marcos family is trying to take him and his family out. A more likely outcome in America would be trump having biden arrested.

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u/LNMagic 25d ago

Trump is no spring chicken.

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u/Zealousideal_Act_316 25d ago

USA withdrew from the ICC prior to iraq. And then passed a law that guaranteed military invasion if anyone was tried at hague. Not much can be done, at this point and you know trump is the kind of dipshit to actually send troops to free him, invading an ally.

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u/Fast-Cut6347 25d ago

God how I wish the ICC had the actual guts to do that

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u/JMurdock77 25d ago

And gee, what’s happening to Duterte today?

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u/Klutzy-Ear-5843 25d ago

And Duterte was just arrested! It's the only good news I have seen lately.

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u/siebenedrissg 25d ago

There‘s more: South Korean seemingly withstanding the antidemocratic actions, Romania barring Georgescu from being allowed to run for the presidency and Bolsonaro being on trial in Brazil… bad week for autocrats

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u/barak181 25d ago

...except in the USA

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u/ForgettableUsername America 25d ago

The current president of the Philippines is the son of Ferdinand Marcos, though. So it’s not like they’ve got quite everything squared away.

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u/OkVermicelli2557 25d ago

Also worth noting that Duterte just got arrested by the ICC for what he did.

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u/siraolo 25d ago edited 25d ago

The Philippine police arrested him. With the reason given being the ICC arrest warrant. But everyone here in the Philippines knows the real reason is the falling out of the current Marcos admin (just as corrupt) and Duterte

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u/Buffaluffasaurus 25d ago

Maria Ressa was a guest on Jon Stewart’s Weekly Show podcast last week, and the interview is brilliant and vital for understanding where America is right now, and where it is heading: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-weekly-show-with-jon-stewart/id1583132133?i=1000698048626

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u/Comfortable_Prize750 25d ago

I watched this over the weekend and it literally put me in an emotional tailspin that I'm not completely out of yet. Incredibly sad and frightening, and it should be watched by EVERY American.

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u/ZippyDan 25d ago

Why link the Apple version that requires an Apple account?

https://youtu.be/jsHoX9ZpA_M

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u/Buffaluffasaurus 25d ago

Because that’s how I listened to it?

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u/iamjustaguy 25d ago

We poor people need access!

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u/steffies 25d ago

But that's DEI and DEI is illegal!

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u/kjan1289 25d ago

That episode should be required listening. It was fantastic

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u/draebor 25d ago

Honestly kind of hoping the US Military keeps it's oath to uphold the Constitution.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 25d ago

Hopefully they're smart enough to pay attention to the fact that a Trump never pays his debts.

Rule #1 is Keep the army happy if you want to stay in power. To be happy they need to be paid, fully and consistently. They need to know their family will be safe and cared for while they're off fighting.

Going to get ugly if he doesn't bother with all that. Folks get mighty pissy over that kinda betrayal.

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u/Vankraken Virginia 25d ago

GOP has been shitting on vets for a while now. They pay a lot of lip service but they don't back it up with much meaningful action. Trump actually insults them and has no genuine respect for the members of our military.

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u/Extreme_Ad6519 25d ago

And still, veterans broke 60-40 for the draft dodger in 2024. I have no hope that this number will change meaningfully in favor of Democrats in the upcoming elections because those people are probably too far gone.

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u/Vankraken Virginia 24d ago

Assuming Democracy still holds, I think the geopolitical landscape will be dramatically different by 2028 and a lot of painful lessons will be learned. Hopefully people will start to learn that "cults of personality" are dangerous to fall into and people learn to be more guarded with the sources of information that they receive. Sadly I don't see that changing quick enough but I think enough people will have scars from putting their hands on the proverbial hot stove to realize that they fucked up and thus will maybe learn. Media literacy is something that will need to be taught in our school systems to prepare our young people for a social media hellscape that both foreign actors as well as various media companies use to suck you into various ideas rabbit holes and warp the perception of the world to be devoid of reality.

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u/SaintPwnofArc 25d ago

If DOGE goes for VA disability benefits at some point it's game over for support from the military. The monthly payment, not VA healthcare.

I'm guessing a lot of people are shortsighted enough to think that the proposed cuts to the VA are good, but no one is going to be okay with getting thrown out on the street when they're too broken to be useful anymore.

Even the most head-ass conservatives that I served with were over the moon about 'getting those bennies' when they got out.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 25d ago

I know exactly what you're talking about, my stepdad has been living off those VA checks since I was a teenager.

Last time somebody pissed him off too much, we caught him stringing up kill traps. Turns out it's something he was trained to do, something about tunnels in jungles.

I'm picturing his benefits getting cut off and him doing that stone face routine while driving to the capital to go hunting. With bow and arrows, because as a convicted felon he's not allowed guns anymore so he learned a ranged weapon he's legally allowed.

Like I wouldn't piss that guy off, he used to jump out of airplanes! The one time some lunatic tried to attack his family on our way home from an evening church service, I got to see all his training kick in as he coldly and calmly defended us. Only time I've seen a human launched off the hood of a vehicle like it was a slingshot.

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u/Dabrush 25d ago

Didn't he just get rid of a ton of senior staff in the armed forces? I'd assume those were the ones he didn't count on being loyal to him.

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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 25d ago

Ya know what's fun is if I was a dictator trying to speed run my own demise, I would absolutely toss a bunch of folks out of the military at all levels to make sure a bunch of trained soldiers and their generals have lots of free time and reason to be pissed at me.

Add in tossing folks out of the alphabet agencies and most areas of government, so those pissed off soldiers can also have intelligence support and the kinda backdoor access that's only available from folks who built the system so know it inside and out.

Like I grew up with someone who got into hacking back in the day but is now high up in providing security for The Federal Reserve Bank. I'm glad his employer isn't actually part of the federal government, but I keep waiting to see how long before all this hate shit trickles down to get him ousted. Because golly would the guy who built the security system know exactly how to dismantle it, and I doubt he'd limit his wrath.

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u/Jessicas_skirt New York 25d ago

The last 10,000 years of human history: I wouldn't bet on it

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u/_BeatsByKWAZARR 22d ago

Thats a pipe dream. The Military has already been washed of ethics and ethnic people. Its is full of loyalists. The military/law enforcement are the Gestapo. Your Brownshirts. Your Pinkertons. Its over without fighting back and getting offline 

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u/sub3monkey 25d ago

Literally just listened to Jon Stewart’s interview with Maria Ressa. Good stuff.

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u/Furlange 25d ago

Her interview on the Jon Stewart was great, I gotta check out her book.

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u/grandmasterfunk 25d ago

Ressa was on Jon Stewart’s podcast last week talking about the similarities. It’s worth listening to

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u/ZedSpot 25d ago

I just listened to her interview with Jon Stewart, it was fantastic. I'm about to start her book.

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u/wynnduffyisking 25d ago

There was a great interview with her on Jon Stewart’s podcast recently. That’s one badass woman.

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u/Mantaraylurks 25d ago

If you refuse in US military you simply get a conviction.

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u/TheTrub Colorado 25d ago

Not if it’s an unlawful order.

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u/mattjb 25d ago

Ah, so that's why he formed death squads. I shudder to think how significantly worse it would've been if the military supported his extrajudicial massacre.

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u/Wonderful-Wonder3104 25d ago

I think she was just on the Jon Stewart podcast last week. I grew up in the Philippines. Left in 2003. Duterte is a cruel, corrupt, and evil man. And she makes a Ressa makes a good point that the Philippines was used as a test run for what will be brought to other democracies. I’ll have to check out the book.

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u/Bilboy32 Pennsylvania 25d ago

She was on the Weekly Show Podcast with Jon Stewart last week. Great episode, terrifying

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u/speakingofdinosaurs 25d ago

Someone at work recommended that book to me today!

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

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u/mattjb 25d ago

Let's not let 70 million+ Americans off the hook. Neither Trump nor the GQP would be able to do everything they're doing without significant support from so many voters that are fine with the chaos and downfall of democracy.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago edited 25d ago

Not to mention the hundred million people who didn’t vote at all. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Although with all the hate and anger these days I can kind of see why some people want to avoid it all completely. 🫤

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u/mattjb 25d ago

Good point, though it's even worse than that. 88 million people of voting age didn't vote. It's maddening.

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u/feedmygoodside 25d ago

Exactly! But I prefer to think of them as stupid. It hurts less.

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u/Comfortable_Prize750 25d ago

It's important to realize how we got here. This is 100% Silicon Valley's doing. They're up front about it too. Vance is besties with them and is just WAITING for his moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

You got there thanks to Bush jr and all the crap he authorised like the "patriot act" and let's not forget that Obama didn't got rid of anything of that.

Remember also that anyone considered a terrorist is fais game to be imprisoned indefinitely without a trial.

Oh and torture.... I mean "enhanced interrogation" is also legal to those

And that you also got the "free speech zones"

This was a team effort since 2002

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u/blazesquall 25d ago

Thank you!

Congress continually expanding executive authority shouldn't come as a shock when it's utilized. Crafting laws that expect rational actors and continued dice rolls in your favor is a shit approach... especially after they gave us a failed approach with the first Trump term, took the time to regroup, telegraphed how they'd use that power, and have no response.

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u/cool-moon-blue 25d ago

Yes - let’s keep focusing on only one factor and ignoring the fact that the Silicon Valley billionaires have spent time and money to gain power, and are still actively working on it

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u/alppu 25d ago

symptom of what the republican party has been pushing for over the past few decades

Someone should really target their propaganda networks and apply the same level of pressure that this activist is feeling to their key workers. If you undermine them, the rest will collapse... and if you don't, they will rebound from any setbacks way too soon.

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u/TasteTheBizkit 25d ago

We’re at a point where you can expect to hear about Americans “accidentally” falling out of buildings.

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u/jonathanrdt 25d ago

Sure hope the White House is safe.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

That only happens to opponents, in USA they just compromise with fascists

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u/robotrage 25d ago

Google Gary Webb, this has already been a thing for a long time

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u/FrancisCGraf 25d ago

"election"

The 2024 presidential election was very likely not legitimate. The signs of vote tampering are strong.

The MAGA movement spent 4 years ruining the "election fraud" 'brand' with "stop the steal", so now it's a hard sell.

Nobody with integrity wants to be a sore loser, but the data is all there...

Election Truth Alliance https://youtu.be/Ru8SHK7idxs?si=2xHXrT8KSuhYulMT

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

Well I did think it was kind of weird that Laura Trump said there was no way they could lose because they had the voting booths all filled with loyalists.

If a Democrat had of said something like that Fox News would have been all over it. There would have been riots. 😂

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u/MarsupialPristine677 25d ago

Yeah, and Trump himself said something about how Elon knows all about the machines and now he's got the votes he needs. Super normal thing to say! If a Democrat said that I expect something worse would have happened than riots.

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u/MaximusTheGreat 25d ago

Why are Republicans willing to riot over absolutely nothing but Democrats unwilling to riot over literal fascism?

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

I think it is kind of a conundrum if you know what I mean.

The Democrats are trying so hard to not be hypocrites that they are totally dropping the ball.

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u/ArkitekZero 25d ago

Where'd she say that?

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u/MayorMcCheezz 25d ago edited 25d ago

The Russian MO is literally no man no problem when dealing with opposition. I’m sure trump wishes DC had taller buildings.

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u/wanker7171 Florida 25d ago

The US is no longer the land of the free

Um, we've had the largest prison population for a while now, in both total numbers and per capita.

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u/Threeseriesforthewin 25d ago

The wild thing is that this guy held a ton of anti-Kamala rallies at Columbia. Like...what did he expect when he helped a guy who literally said he'd do this to him

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u/janethefish 25d ago

I never expected the eating-my-face-in-particular face eating Leopard would eat my face!

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u/WildYams 25d ago

Yep. I don't at all like that Trump is doing this and am terrified of the precedent this sets and what this means going forward, but at the same time I don't have much sympathy for this particular individual, since this is the outcome he worked hard to help bring about.

Many of us spent all of last year saying that this is what would happen if Trump won, but guys like him (and a few others in this thread) instead wanted people to get the message that "both sides are the same" so now here we are. I wonder if he regrets any of his decisions. Seems like a lot of people commenting in this thread still think there's no difference between the Dems and GOP. Will they ever get to a point where they can see that Trump is clearly worse?

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u/jacksonbrownisahero 25d ago edited 25d ago

There's another perspective that's admittedly a bit more brutal: that all this HAS to happen. There DID need to be anti-democrat protests over these topics, MAGA HAD to win and ruin things. The Democrats HAVE to lose catastrophically and the human cost for these mistakes HAS to be paid. It's the only way as a collective ecosystem that these lessons get etched with blood into stone.

Obviously if you take the perspective of an individual, or even a generation, or any one particular issue, it's horrific. But a part of me believes that these lessons are only ever learned, the cycle only broken, when it's paid for with blood, and the mistakes HAVE to happen. In fact, avoiding them prolongs the inevitable into a bigger catastrophe. In the same way small floods or forest fires prevent the big ones, I think there are times when the only way forward is THROUGH the catastrophe.

The Democrats for example, were not exactly on the right side of the story for a lot of these major issues. From foreign policy in Gaza to corporate brown nosing maybe it takes such a major catastrophe for the old guard to finally die off and make way for an actual change in position.

...or it's all for nothing and we're doomed...idk.

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u/WildYams 25d ago

I think what you're saying is right, but I don't think it's worth the cost. I feel like the people in post-war Germany, by and large, probably learned that it had been a mistake to support Hitler, but look at what it cost them to learn that lesson? The country was bombed to smithereens, tens of millions were killed, and then what was left was carved up by the Allied Powers.

They didn't really get their country back for another 50 years or so. And even then, even after all that, eventually all those people who went through it died off and now you're seeing far right neo-Nazis rise up again in Germany in the form of the AfD party.

So yes, a great rending of the country asunder does definitely inflict hard fought lessons on its people, but even then it's still only temporary, lasting a few generations or so, and usually comes at the risk of completely destroying the country in the interim.

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u/jacksonbrownisahero 25d ago

If there is any way to learn the lesson without the catastrophe, it is no doubt not worth the cost. But I fear we've raced past too many exit ramps and now the only way to slow down is to crash. And even then the lesson might only be learned by observers a safe distance away.

That's why I preface this perspective as brutal, because it's at the level of the ecosystem. There is no guarantee that the belligerents and victims of such a catastrophe will experience continuity. It might be an entirely different group of people that would watch such a Titanic failure and think "we should avoid that". Until of course the lesson is eventually forgotten, as it feels like it's being forgotten now, the lessons from 80 some years ago.

I hope I'm wrong though, and there is enough cultural motion to change our directions. But in my life as well as my readings of history, it seems catastrophes are how we learn.

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u/WildYams 25d ago

I think at this point what we're discussing is academic anyway. This shit is happening now whether we want it to or not. There's nothing any of us, nor the Dems, can do to stop it. The time to stop it was the election in November. Once they lost that, the die was cast.

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u/Rich_Ad1877 25d ago

Reddit politics people legit going "Oh my god that's hor- oh... they didn't like kamala... DESERVED" like you gotta have a sympathy compass beyond loyalty to the Democrat party 😭 anti dem sentiment obviously hurt us in the end but the guy is literally Palestinian obviously he's not going to be thrilled with the administration that was funding Israel's stomping of his people

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u/Almostlongenough2 Florida 25d ago

I mean, Kamala was running on right-wing messaging so I get it. I think it's perfectly appropriate to protest the candidate of what is supposed to be the 'center at best' party in America if as a voter of that party their messaging isn't to your liking.

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u/thegreaterfool714 California 25d ago

I don’t have a lot of sympathy for him personally but the precedence this sets if he’s deported is extremely dangerous

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u/wsb_v_skidmarks 25d ago

If so then damn, no wonder Palestine can't get a W. Bunch of winners literally did it to themselves.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

Kinda like how america is doing this to itself? Hope you enjoy

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u/Xervicx 25d ago edited 25d ago

America was *never* the land of the free. At *best* it was that for straight white men at one point. "Land of the free" was always just propaganda.

>it only took one election

Setting aside what made Trump's first term possible, during it he laid the groundwork for his second term. Democrats doing basically nothing during that and Biden's term (even as Trump loudly proclaimed the terrible things he planned to do) cemented it. It's like whenever Democrats did something effective, they stopped doing it instead of keeping the pressure up. It happened during Kamala's campaign and was part of what led to Trump winning.

But Trump losing the election would have just prolonged the inevitable if the Democratic Party kept being the way they've been for decades now. They didn't try all that hard to make Trump face consequences for his actions. They won't even do anything *now*. They're largely doormats or outright making Trump's power grabs easier. They actively are turning on the few that manage to do barely more than just wear a tshirt or make a social media post. We were screwed a *long* time ago, this is just the fruits of *decades* of Republican efforts to destroy the country, and the result of Russia's investments.

Of course, Elon Musk, the most divorced man in history, was a large part of Trump's success in politics, with his spiteful acquisition of Twitter and him throwing money around and buying Trump's presidency. But the fact that was ever possible in the first place means the country was screwed already.

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u/Kichigai Minnesota 25d ago

They won't even do anything now.

What do you expect them to do? They are in the minority in the House, they're in the minority in the Senate, they don't control any committees, they don't control any agencies or cabinet seats, they don't control the Oval Office.

All they have is protest. Elections have consequences, and these are the consequences of people not turning out last November.

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u/robotrage 25d ago

They are literally still talking about decorum and how standing up to trump by breaking decorum isn't ok, you must live in a fantasy land. Democrats are just as responsible for Trump's election

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u/greenplastic22 25d ago

When the Republicans are out of power, they still find a way to obstruct, and a way to advance their goals. Democrats have been handed the reins multiple times. Somehow, there's usually some reason they "can't" do what their base wants/what they campaigned on. Usually a Joe Manchin/Kysten Sinema type figure. The Senate Parliamentarian. Or Republican obstruction.

They could *not* vote to confirm Trump appointments. They could not vote to censure a party member for protesting Trump. They could follow the Republican playbook from when they've been a minority party.

I would have expected them to do many things differently leading up to now, because yes, elections do have consequences, and I don't feel the Democrats governed or campaigned like what was coming would be this dire. Yes, they talked a bit about Project 2025. But not holding Trump accountable for January 6. Not getting people out of student debt to remove a mechanism of control. Building up police departments (who will enforce fascist laws), not packing the court or trying to, not having a real primary when they apparently knew neither Biden nor Harris were ever ahead of Tump according to their own internal polling....it's just been beyond irresponsible.

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u/Distinct_Ad_5492 25d ago

It's time to throw away the old guard and push the party. It needs to stand on business. We need people who are shamelessly liberal and progressive. Who aren't scared to be called socialist, who aren't safe, who take risks and most of all want to win. We need a game plan. Hopefully they'll be able to capitalize on Donald errors come mid election and start making a break for the White House. It's time to stop being soft and start playing rough and ruthless, because lives depend on it and democracy.

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u/Philix Canada 25d ago

That's great, you absolutely need all that. You needed it eight years ago too, and it might be too late now.

Your country is gearing up to march on Canada, and it isn't just Trump. The Maga propaganda arm has been priming their base with rhetoric about how bad it is in Canada, how we're under communist dictators, for the last two years. The Maga foreign policy arm has been found to have funded civil unrest in our country. Economic warfare has started, and the consent is being manufactured.

Practically none of your elected officials seem to be taking it seriously, from our perspective the Democrats are tacitly approving it. There was one single audible negative reaction from them when he stated in his speech in front of the joint session that he'd 'get' a part of Denmark "one way or the other we're going to get it".

What you need to do now is decide what you're all going to do when your country starts trying to overthrow other democracies militarily, because that's where you are right now. 1930s Germany engaged in economic warfare with Austria as a prelude to The Anschluss. Heim ins Reich and Manifest Destiny are cut from the same cloth.

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u/Polantaris 25d ago

He's been priming MAGA all day for something with Canada, and I have every expectation it is not good (like maybe straight out attacking Canada bad).

He's been on his social media accounts crying about tariffs and other shit that's just a fuckton of lies but because his base doesn't know what tariffs actually are (or, let's be honest, anything at all), they will eat it up.

This is the Trump playbook every single time. He rants and raves on "Truth"Social or Twitter for a few days, and then announces actions on the things he literally made up days before. Anyone else and we'd be laughing at the delusional crackpot.

With the signing of the mineral rights with Ukraine, which was 100% Trump strong-arming Ukraine into a position they had no chance of escaping like a bunch of classroom bullies, he needs to prime his base for the next phase of his bullshit. That's what he's been doing all day.

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u/Distinct_Ad_5492 25d ago

Eventually the house of cards will fold. You can't just run the government like a business and think you can push people around. Eventually someone's gonna call your bluff and punch you in the face. It's not the only way to deal with bullies but it's the only way to deal with this bully. The fallout from lack of government workers, lack of checks and balances and continuous wage stagnation, while gutting programs that help struggling Americans and countries moving away from trade with the United States due to lack of trust, is going to have an impact. The bill always comes due good or bad. But you rather it be from doing something positive than negative.

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u/sp0rk_walker 25d ago

Biden's priorities were domestic soft economic landing through stimulus, and preventing the fall of Kiev. He accomplished both.

I'm convinced he will never get his due credit.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

His due credit to not run for a second term in the first place?

His due credit to refuse to retire from the race as soon as it was clear that people didn't wanted a second Biden term?

His due credit when he said that only God himself telling him to stand down will make him do that?

The guy torpedoed any chance of Dems winning and then Kamala ran on repub light, they had no chance.

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u/Casual_OCD Canada 25d ago

They were never supposed to have a chance. Democrats winning in 2020 was an accident. The donors told the party to stand down so they could get their oligarchy

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u/sp0rk_walker 25d ago

The guy was the best president in your lifetime if you're under 60.

You are monday morning quarterbacking, maybe nothing could have stopped another Trump presidency, ever consider that?

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u/brianstormIRL 24d ago

No he fucking wasn't. Do people not pay attention? The deficit went up massively under Biden as well and the wealth inequality continued to grow.

The only reason Biden was a good president for you is if you're already fairly wealthy and own assets. For the common person life got significantly worse economically under Biden and that's just a fact.

This is why the fucking Democrats lost, refusing to accept reality that Biden did not make life easier for the average voter. Guess what happens when people feel like their lives got harder? They vote the other way.

I fucking despite Trump and this MAGA bullshit but I swear to God the gaslighting around Biden and the DNP needs to stop. There's a reason he was deeply unpopular, a reason people were genuinely excited when he dropped out, and a reason everyone was fucking pissed when Kamala just rolled out Bidenomics 2.0 and ran essentially the same campaign he did.

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u/Kichigai Minnesota 25d ago

When the Republicans are out of power, they still find a way to obstruct, and a way to advance their goals.

So all this is preferable to slow progress? Pray tell, how much worse was Kamala Harris’ plans for ethnic cleansing in Gaza? Remind me of Biden’s threats to eliminate Washington DC’s budget if they didn't remove “Black Lives Matter” from the streets. Who can forget how much Tim Walz badmouthed the Department of Education and how awful his plans were for funding childhood nutrition. I can't for the life of me remember if they ever said it would be a good thing for Ukraine to win the war with Russia…

But yeah, both sides are the same, amirite?

Somehow, there's usually some reason they "can't" do what their base wants/what they campaigned on. Usually a Joe Manchin/Kysten Sinema type figure.

Yes, not having a >52 vote majority in the Senate means just one Senator can gum up the works. Republicans have had the same problem in the House with knuckleheads like Matt Gaetz who created leadership crises on a regular basis.

Take it up with the states and districts that keep electing those shit heads. That's clearly what those areas want.

I don't feel the Democrats governed or campaigned like what was coming would be this dire. Yes, they talked a bit about Project 2025.

  1. They couldn't “govern” because voters had given control of the House back to the Republicans, and Republicans sure as hell weren't going to let anything anti-Trump through the House.
  2. They campaigned like hell on it.

Every single speech, interview, and event they were hammering home some combination of…

  • Trump saying he'd be a dictator on day one
  • Tying the issue at hand to Project 2025
  • Trump's comments about not needing an election after 2024
  • Calling Trump a threat to democracy

They did it so often that people were saying the Democrats were being “hyperbolic” and “fear mongering.” That their warnings about Trump being a threat to democracy was itself becoming a threat to democracy.

People said they wouldn't be “bullied” into voting for “Killer Kamala” with these “exaggerated” claims, straight up brushing off Trump's comments about wanting to deport protesting students. And if people didn't know about that it's their own fault for not paying attention to what was going on in the world.

But not holding Trump accountable for January 6.

That was Jack Smith. He was in the process of prosecuting multiple cases against him. The courts set the date for his trials, he was counting on people not giving Trump the authority to fire him.

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u/greenplastic22 25d ago

See, I don't think they campaigned like hell on it. To me, that would have looked like having a real primary so there could be a candidate with a lot of broad public support. Not running out the clock with an unpopular incumbent and then installing the VP as the candidate. They could have then started that way earlier. Anyone could see Biden was not up to it. I thought that as far as the first primaries while Trump was still in office.

They could have governed differently. Biden still had the executive branch. I used to think like you do, of course one or two people can gum up the works. But it doesn't excuse the executive not using its power and then acting like their hands are totally tied. Biden said nothing would fundamentally change. On student debt cancellation, he said "I will not make that happen," and then capitulated and followed a SoFi-approved plan that was left vulnerable to court challenges (not using more iron-clad options).

How different would Harris's plans for Gaza be? I read an AP article not too long ago that said Trump's current plan had been floated by the Biden admin. I've seen similar things on immigration and Guantanamo - I have an article talking about the contract and camp building there from September 2024.

No, what's happening now is not preferable to slow progress. But, in an existential emergency, is slow progress what makes sense?

I also know they had decided they didn't *want* progressive votes. That they would rather go after moderate Republicans than adjust the Harris campaign and platform to be more similar to what won in 2020. That was strategic. Then they lost progressive voters by willfully crossing peoples red lines, and didn't pick up their unicorn Republicans. That's irresponsible to me. Not looking at their most recent winning coalitions and trying for something that doesn't typically work for them, given how often Democrats at the local level have complained that Republicans ultimately fall in line and back their party no matter what, I don't know why they bought into this strategy.

Edit: Adding that I just think the whole January 6 thing looked slow-walked. Running out the clock. Something to do with Merrick Garland.

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u/trampabroad 25d ago

"But what about the Senate Parliamentarian!?"

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u/virgieblanca 24d ago

Merrick Garland not being on SCOTUS says otherwise

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u/Ar_Ciel Florida 25d ago

The foundations were built by Reagan and Gingrich, Dubya and the swiftboaters started the ideological parts and Trump is the capstone.

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u/RockinOneThreeTwo 25d ago

The US is no longer the land of the free and it only took one election.

It didn't take one election, it's been this way for a long time, the only reason anyone would think "it took one election" is if they were ok with the oppression being caused by the previous status quo and were happy to call that "freedom" when it never has been.

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u/GrimgrinCorpseBorn 25d ago

Privilege is a hell of a drug

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u/Y0___0Y 25d ago

“status quo” sounds pretty fucking good right now.

You’re talking like someone who refused to vote Harris and helped us get into this mess.

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u/Officer_Hotpants 25d ago

Progressives turn out at higher rates than anyone else. The whining at progressives for the Dems failures to even attempt to win elections or hold Republicans accountable is laughable.

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u/UEMayChange 25d ago

I voted Harris, but it is a shared opinion of every Harris voter I personally know. The Democrats in power would prefer a fascist Trump regime over a true populist, Leftist movement. They are capitalists through and through.

That's not to say Harris would have been just as bad as Trump. It's saying people like Harris would have slowed the bleed, but would never have stopped it.

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u/Y0___0Y 25d ago

That’s just being dishonest. The Democrats prefer a moderate lukewarm centrist over a fascist Trump regime.

Bernie Sanders understands this. When he lost the primaries both times, he implored everyone to vote Clinton and Biden. And tons of his so-called “supporters” didn’t listen to him.

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u/Cereborn 25d ago

That’s just being dishonest. The Democrats prefer a moderate lukewarm centrist over a fascist Trump regime.

Of course they would. No one is disputing that.

What the previous poster said is, "The Democrats in power would prefer a fascist Trump regime over a true populist, Leftist movement." And that is absolutely, undeniably true. The only meaningful action the Dems have taken is to squash progressive voices in their party while Trump has unleashed the Art of the Reich.

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

And tons of his so-called “supporters” didn’t listen to him.

Any reason why? I’m sure the dems welcomed his supporters into the fold.

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u/robotrage 25d ago

Harris, the Genocide supporter that capitulates to right wingers and nearly got upstaged by her vice president and had to muzzle him? It's funny how democrats will consistently snub the working class and actual progressives like AOC and Bernie and people like you will continue to be Blue MAGA

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u/corvid_booster 25d ago

*reined in (controlled, as by a horse's reins)

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

Yes. Sorry. Autocorrect sucks. I don’t even notice sometimes. Sometimes it changes the word to something that isn’t even remotely close to what you were typing.

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u/prof_tincoa 25d ago

The US is no longer the land of the free

Seriously, you've got to be fucking kidding me. The US, land of the free? That's bullshit propaganda typical of the Cold War. Free for whom? The millions of enslaved people and their kids? Free to go bankrupt after an ER visit? Wake the fuck up already.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

Isn’t it part of your anthem?

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u/prof_tincoa 25d ago

Wait, what in my comment makes me sound American? I've disappointed my ancestors. Forgive me, god, for your son have sinned. Shame on me, shame on my future generations.

I'm just tired of the whole American bravado of being the best country in the world, the land of the free, the American dream, etc. All of that after supporting a military coup in my country and putting in charge their puppets who raped and killed thousands of dissidents while selling the whole country to American companies, setting our development decades back. Fuck the American government (all administrations) and their meddling with international affairs so their fucking billionaires can become even more richer.

As for the American people, my condolences. You're discussing trans rights (to exist? wtf) all day while the rich are picking your pockets and laughing at you.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 24d ago

The US is headed for a recession. Warren Buffet sold billions of his stocks because he knows it is coming and will take advantage of all the people who will start to sell like crazy when the recession hits.

He made a killing in 2008 and will again this time.

All the billionaires will.

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u/HolycommentMattman 25d ago

No, it took many elections. Arguably 5+ election cycles. Trump couldn't do any of this shit if Congress would act.

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u/DistinctSmelling 25d ago

Eventually, all power hungry rulers get theirs. It hasn't happened to Putin yet but trump is too dumb and he'll end up like Mussolini

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u/TruthSearcher1970 24d ago

Have you seen the comedy “The Death of Stalin”? It’s hilarious and totally reminds me of what is happening right now in the US.

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u/HolyRomanEmperor 25d ago

‘Election’

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u/CharlesIngalls_Pubes America 25d ago

And the smooth-brains here no problem voting for him, and are more than happy to bring pain to their neighbors, so long as they get to "own the libs".

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u/buythedipnow 25d ago

It took way more than 1 election to get here but the point stands

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

Well considering Trump didn’t even show up to the other debates I don’t think he was too worried.

Everyone was so far behind him in the Republican Elections they didn’t even need to have them.

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u/_commenter 25d ago

people are going to mysteriously start falling out of windows

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

No doubt in my mind. Or at least end up at the “Train Station”. 🤦🏻‍♂️

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u/chappelld 25d ago

If it was even an election. Fucking blows.

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u/linguinisupremi 25d ago

We’ve had legalized bribes for decades, it wasn’t one election

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

Ya, I really don’t understand all of that lobbyist stuff. That just seems entirely insane to me.

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u/Flopdo California 25d ago

That's how it happens... one election... the last election.

Not saying that's going to happen here, but people better pay attention.

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u/dksprocket 25d ago

It's all part of the plan.

You need to look no further than the fascist manifesto 'Unhumans' written by Jack Posobiec and Scott Adam's ghostwriter which has a glowing foreword by Steve Bannon and with a glowing cover 'blurb' endorsement by J.D.Vance. It goes through all the techniques fascists like Franco and Pinochet used to silence their critics and praising their effectiveness.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/the-horrifying-fascist-manifesto-endorsed-by-j.d.-vance

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u/[deleted] 25d ago

One rigged* election.

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u/robotrage 25d ago

It took far more than 1 election, you just couldn't see that until now

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u/nononoh8 25d ago

This is how it starts. Everyone is next.

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u/Monty_Jones_Jr 25d ago

It took several elections to get us here. One of them being Trump’s first presidency. Reagan, Bush. History is a constant chain of cause and effect yknow? Decades of poisoning the public’s opinion of the public sector. The Patriot Act. Citizen’s United. Mitch McConnell blocking any Obama policy that would’ve actually helped the American public. Hell even Nixon bugging his political opponents severely ruined America’s trust in the institutions.

We’ve been fucked for nearly half a century at least. This is the climax of this entire last chapter of American democracy that started in 1776.

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u/JohnTomorrow 25d ago

It hasn't been the land of the free for years, but this is the first time America has openly ripped the mask off to reveal the rot underneath.

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u/nsing110 25d ago

2 elections, we should have learnt better from his first term…

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u/TruthSearcher1970 24d ago

He wasn’t quite as crazy the first term. Not until he lost anyway.

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u/shoopandawhoop 24d ago

The burning home of the brave.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 24d ago

People can’t figure out why he is tanking the economy but Warren Buffet sold billions in stocks waiting for the next recession. He knows exactly what Trump is doing. All the billionaires do.

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u/schoolisuncool 24d ago

And everybody said it was fear mongering and eggs were too expensive and kids were being turned trans and using litter boxes in bathrooms because they are also furrys

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u/Mygo73 24d ago

I’m sitting in the dentist office waiting to be seen and an ad just played in the lobby about how president trump will find you and deport you if you are here illegally.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 24d ago

Is there really an app where you can deport yourself? Or is that just a joke?

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u/HyrulianAvenger 25d ago

Two elections if we’re being fair

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

Sometimes I wonder if he hadn’t gone up against a woman both times if he would have won?

The one time he went up against a man he lost.

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u/30-19994 25d ago

Maybe he's just a shameless liar.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

Well if he is talking generally he is lying. 🤥😂

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u/tebu810 25d ago

*Russian election

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u/TheInfra 25d ago

The US is no longer the land of the free

It still is. Only that it's just white people with money. Or white people with guns.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 25d ago

Ya and after this recession there are going to be a whole lot more of those people. Or those people are just going to be a whole lot richer. Or both.

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u/Mein_Bergkamp Foreign 25d ago

You've not been paying attention if you think this is the result of one election unfortunately.

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u/BGDutchNorris 25d ago

We’ve never been the land of the free. All the evil shit we do abroad is finally being self-inflicted at home.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 24d ago

Ya. It’s pretty bad that’s for sure.

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u/AppalachanKommie 25d ago

Putin? You realize this is all under project ester right? On the white house twitter post they shared a picture of Mahmoud saying “shalom Mahmoud” the israeli terrorist forces say shalom ___ before they execute Palestinian civilians, which should tell you who is providing the script.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 24d ago

Well I think Trump is pretty open to most dictators.

Seems pretty waitresses can affect legislation as well. 😂

Somebody says something stupid and Trump runs with it.

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u/our_potatoes 24d ago

The US has been declining for decades. This election is just making it impossible to deny

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u/Shoddy-Horror-2007 24d ago

It took far more than one election. We were many to warn you, already back in 2003. You guys ignored us.

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u/sokratesz 24d ago

The problem with politics is that the democratically-minded need to win every time, but the fascists only need to win once.

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u/chytrak 24d ago

No longer, haha

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u/AcanthisittaSuch7001 24d ago

Two elections.

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u/bnelson 19d ago

It did not take one election. It took many, over the course of decades. Slowly, the executive has chipped away at the other branches. It is not some single event. It is a long series of apathy and congress slowly ceding its power and the executive stacking the judiciary. The fact that the executive can stack the judiciary is, in and of itself, a huge problem in our founding documents.

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u/TruthSearcher1970 18d ago

I heard quite a few years ago that churches were creating their own universities to create their own politicians in order to have more representation in Government.

This was about 30 years ago when I heard about the plan.

It seems to be coming to fruition now.

I wonder if they ever accomplished it and how many people actually went to Christian Universities?

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