this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2024
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politics

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[–] [email protected] 81 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Fucker needs to be in prison.Not in office.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Rich, white Republicans don't go to prison unless they have a pardon lined up.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 8 months ago (2 children)

He’s not rich and he’s definitely orange

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago
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[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The US political system has countless weaknesses, but Trump has shone a light on one of the deepest weaknesses inherent to all democracies — what happens if/when the majority support fascism, authoritarianism, a holy war to genocide X, etc (not the case atm, but Trump having more than 1% of the vote is insanity).

You could argue that moral citizens should take up arms against tyranny, but that appears to be what the majority of MAGA's believe they are doing, and would be anti-democratic, so you're ultimately just hoping that the more moral and ethical are better at slaughtering the least moral and ethical — not much of a failsafe if you ask me.

I guess my point is that I'm not surprised we have no evidence of other intelligent life, and the great filter preventing universal colonisation seems to simply be life itself...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The majority don't support it. Fascists never do. They get by with about 20% of the population directly supporting them, another 10-20% having reservations but being more afraid of leftists removing their cushy position in a stratified society, and a final 10% or so centrists who vote for their side because they voted for the other side last time.

Trump lost the popular vote both times, and only got in once because of a poorly conceived electoral college system. The German Nazi Party got 44% of the vote in 1933--much of that with voter intimidation--and then an old guy with a family title handed him the chancellorship. Mussolini never had a vote in his favor at all--his party led violent protests against the existing Prime Minister, and the King handed the job over to Mussolini.

They don't win at democracy. They win by exploiting holes in the democratic process and the failure of liberalism to make things better for people.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's like the Paradox of Intolerance. In order to remain free and democratic, we need to disqualify candidates who would take away that freedom and would void our democracy. Not even counting all the myriad of crimes he's been guilty of, just based on his words and his platform, he should be disqualified. We have to be intolerant of intolerance.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Philosopher Rainer Forst resolves the contradiction in philosophical terms by outlining tolerance as a social norm and distinguishing between two notions of "intolerance": the denial of tolerance as a social norm, and the rejection of this denial.

I think viewing tolerance as a social contract perfectly sums up this situation. We allowed Trump to run for president when he had said some crazy shit, but hadn't yet tried to overthrow the government. As soon as that happened, the social contract was off. No do overs.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 8 months ago (5 children)

It's literally following the law.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago (2 children)

If it lets an insurrectionist like Trump on the ballot, the supreme court will be putting out a welcome mat to autocracy

And they will be among the first up against the wall if that day comes, you can bet on it. I wonder if they have the slightest shred of self-preservation. If they are more afraid of maga now and not what maga will become, then their self-preservation instinct is badly flawed. We'll see.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I think the right-leaning justices know pretty well that their positions are safe. They're already benefiting immensely from corruption. When democracy dies and they have no obligation to the law, they'll do whatever it takes to enrich themselves further.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

After all, someone has to rubber stamp the actions of the autocrat.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (3 children)

What happened to his hand and why has no one mentioned this? Are those burns or what?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Actually someone else in this thread mentions how it looks like secondary syphilis.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Grabbed one too many pussies eh?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Definitely seems like he hurt himself gripping something. Caught a falling knife would make sense if he ate anything that required cutting. Maybe held a frozen railing and lost skin?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

It's the same group of dopes who have latched onto the ignorant "we're not a democracy, were a constitutional republic!" who are now arguing that disqualifying candidates that the cotus disqualifies is denying them their right to vote for whom they want.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

If we literally follow the Constitution, Trump is already barred from office & needs Congress to vote to remove that disability.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

He's not qualified. Pretty simple . Just like any 34 year old.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I love Steven Greenhouse. 'Beaten down worked up' set the groundwork for many discussions I had with my coworkers on worker rights. Also, he warns us against Niki Haley and her high heels.

With that being said I think she is a larger threat to labor rights than any other candidate for the GOP. Trump being the largest threat to democracy.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, I think Project 2025 is the equalizer when it comes to who is worst and why. As long as the Republicans are dead set on forming a christofascist dictatorship it may not matter which Republican dictator we hypothetically get for domestic issues. And I'm not confident that any of them would be better on international issues either.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

If you're not worried about the 2025 stuff, look at the Supreme Court, how little it took to quickly and fundamentally shift that to a broken body with absolutely zero integrity - now times that dangerous transition with every single aspect of government.

Your relatives who vote for trump are literally voting for the end of American democracy. They've had there's, they are going to die sometime soon, and they are tossing a match over their shoulders into the gasoline soaked mass they created behind them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Imagine leaving the White House like Trump did, and to live in a place where this orange guy is a serious contender to occupy the presidency once again after four years.

Maybe this democracy is not worthy of protection. With all due respect, American democracy may need way more than stopping Trump's second term.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's not much of a solution, either. Don't like what American democracy is doing now? Just wait until it doesn't care about having pretenses to invade other countries, or even use nuclear weapons.

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