collapse of the old society

• ~~Beer Hall Putsch~~ Jan 6? ✔
• ~~Enabling Act of 1933~~ Trump immunity SCOTUS ruling? ✔
• ~~Reichstag Fire~~ Failed assassination attempt? ✔

Night of the Long Knives coming up next, and soon.

The Biden campaign has already paused all outbound communications and withdrawn their television advertisements, ceding the entire field of narrative to Donald Trump, who will have no compunction about using his status as a victim to advance his efforts to victimize others.

This is why we can't have nice things. Fucking feckless Democrat leadership being timid in the face of a fascist takeover 🤦

This was my literal second thought after I heard what happened.

This is so bloody unreal. The main suspect was even a registered Republican. All of this according to the FBI.

There was some evidence that the Reichstag was torched by the Nazis as well. I can really do without the irony.

Some notes:

• almost no doubt: this will have a mobilizing effect for Trump supporters ("our great leader is being attacked", etc)

• possibly: this will improve Trump's ratings among voters with no clear political preference (a big story where he's not the villain is what he needs)

• pattern: historically, surviving an assassination attempt has improved a candidate's chances of getting elected; in the most recent example, Slovakia's prime minister Fico enjoyed a boost in ratings while in hospital after being seriously wounded

I don't blame Democrats for temporarily ceasing campaign advertisement. Two principles dictate this: "you don't kick a person who is already down" (Trump was incredibly lucky and isn't) and "you don't attack someone who has martyrdom effect". Generally, you wait until the dust settles. Democrats too will wait until the dust settles. They will also check the popularity ratings and decide how to proceed.

In my opinion, Democrats would strongly benefit from a younger candidate. I would advise getting someone under 55 to run. Among the wider population, not enough people understand that, as things are, the Democratic candidate is Kamala Harris, her name is just currently Joe Biden. :o

Overall, it seems that Trump has considerable chances of getting elected president. Preventing that will require exceptional effort and considerable luck. Only if the Democrats manage to paint a clear picture of what a Trump presidential term would bring about, and only if that picture causes their voters to show up and vote nearly without exception - only then will things turn out differently.

My personal view from Eastern Europe - contingency plans for a Trump presidency ceasing aid to Ukraine have a very high probability of occurrence now (estimated time: early 2025). Over here, everyone and their cat will researching cheap weapons systems to replace things that only the US can provide. I think that group will now include myself.

Well, duh! That shooting gave him everything he could have ever dreamed of, including an absolutely perfect photo op.

The Biden campaign has already paused all outbound communications and withdrawn their television advertisements, ceding the entire field of narrative to Donald Trump, who will have no compunction about using his status as a victim to advance his efforts to victimize others.

Classic liberals.

And to think I had people downvoting and screaming at me in other threads when I pointed out that this would happen.

This really sucks. If you aren't armed already. The violence ahead will be bad.

In an abundance of caution the Biden administration should keep Trump somewhere safe until the election is over.

Without a doubt they will. And when he wins the election, he will ban guns and take them away. Can’t have a chance of something like this happening again.

The Party of "law and order," folks.

Oh good, because the reichstag fire was also perpetuated by the party in question.

Yeah called this last night too. I guess America was nice well it lasted. I mean I'm still going to fucking vote, but I don't have high expectations.

Lame and totally expected.

I ain't scared of some rascal riding MAGA supporter.

This picture reminds me of the "Sniper Elite" game I played as a kid.