I had no idea it would be this bad
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Anonymous
This. I expected what we have now, then and while the first trump administration was bad, it wasn't anything that I was fearing. This on the other hand, from the "immigration" to the "DOGE" to the economic collapse and supplication to Russia, are exactly what I feared, and yes, it will get a whole lot worse for regular, every day Americans unless the GOP puts and end to it sooner than later. The longer this goes on, the harder it will be to recover, if ever in our lifetimes. |
Anonymous
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Here's the key difference: Trump 1.0 did not expect to win, did not really want to govern, and generally surrounded himself with and listened to career Republicans who said no to his craziest ideas. Trump 2.0 needed to win to stay out of jail, surrounded himself only with yes men, and has been discovered to be a useful tool by a bunch of horrible people who are now organized and know he will do what you tell him to as long as you suck up and insult the Democrats. So, I knew it was going to be much, much worse.
All that said, I am still amazed that Congress has seemingly no spine at all. |
Anonymous
Just stop. They don’t listen to men who disagree with them either. What a stupid and counterproductive comment. |
Anonymous
| I continue to be confused by all the people who didn't see this coming from a mile away. Nothing he's done has been a surprise. If people are surprised, I can only assume they weren't paying attention. Trump was terrible during his first term, but at least he had to consider being re-elected and he also started his term with a fairly competent (albeit not who I would choose) cabinet. This time around all the competent people have left the building and we're left with a terrible person being advised by other terrible people. |
Anonymous
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OP I could have written what you said except I mostly support the "woke stuff". I was not as upset after Harris lost compared with 2016, and hoped it would be sprt of like Trump's first term. But in the back of my mind I knew the risk of a second Trump term was high.
I think the GOP has been capturing the working class for decades. They do it by catering to people's worst instincts - fear and animosity towards people who are different from them. Instead of fighting for the working class the Democrats have focused on catering to a broad fractured coalition that is impossible to maintain. So even though, consistently, Republicans break the economy and Democrats fix it, Democrats too often lose to terrible GOP candidates. I think this will.continue to be an issue as long as Democrats pretend to cater to the working class but rely mostly on UMC voters while the GOP succeeds in winning the working class via racism and xenophobia. |
Anonymous
They are so annoying. There’s nothing we can do about this, so why keep hand wringing. |
Anonymous
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I knew he hated black and brown people, but I didn't think he would try to erase our history and erase us in general. He wants us gone from the history books.
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Anonymous
Of course there is, don't be ridiculous. It's not easy and nobody can do it alone. Start by not obeying in advance. |
Anonymous
A mix of many reasons. 50% the monetary policies that started under Trump 45 to ward off Covid-induced recession. It was known in 2020 the cost of avoiding a long, steep recession then would be major inflation years later. Remember there were worries in 2020 Covid could trigger the next Great Depression. 10% DEI reaching a fever pitch following Floyd’s murder. 10% The Taliban retaking Afghanistan practically overnight, wasting nearly two decades of war, following Trump 45 negotiating directly with the Taliban without the Afghan government a year before. That’s actually when Biden’s job approval turned negative and never recovered. 10% Russia invading Ukraine, which Putin knew would give Trump fans more to complain about 2 years later. 10% the war in Gaza, which simultaneously made Dems look too soft on Israel for its destruction of an entire civilian population’s home and too sympathetic of Hamas for criticizing Israel at all. 10% Biden not making way for a younger Dem candidate! |
Anonymous
It's mostly the economy. You can tell yourself as a cope that the reasons why were Trump, but the Biden administration kept gaslighting everyone that the economy was great, when many people clearly felt otherwise. The problem with both parties is that they think winning an election is a mandate to move forward with some big agenda, but for most Americans it isn't. They get sick of distracting issues and vote in the other party for relief. I have no hope the Republicans will learn from this reality, and not much more Democrats will, but some hope is better than whatever this shit is. |
Anonymous
There's a simpler reason that Republicans, as unpopular they are, have a higher approval rating than Democrats. The Republican Party stands for something, and the Democratic Party (meaning the establishment, DNC) doesn't stand for anything, or if it does, it has no idea what it's doing. The MAGA Republicans have a floor at 35% which is the MAGA cult, and add to that the billionaire/capital elites who will support anything that increases their bottom line. Democrats just aren't appealing to anyone. Progressive Dems and Bernie Sanders/AOC/Squad etc appeal to their base, and individuals in congress might be well-liked by their particular constituents, but that's it. 83-year-old Nancy Pelosi making calls to get 74-year-old Gerry Connolly to beat AOC for Oversight leadership while she was in the hospital for a hip replacement epitomizes what the establishment Democrats have become. |
Anonymous
That’s overstating things given Harris lost by 1.5% despite such a short and flawed campaign and almost definitely not being who Dems would’ve nominated if there had been a real primary. “There would be a Dem in the White House if Biden had bowed out before the primary” is a simpler explanation than “Dems don’t appeal to anyone despite nearly getting half the vote.” |
Anonymous
And elderly And ADHD And Autistic And who’s ever taken SSRIs |
Anonymous
| Ooooh! More concern trolling! Wordy too! |
Anonymous
Oh, FFS, get serious! It is completely defensible and understandable that tens of millions of Americans didn’t believe that the entire facade of “ironclad” constitutional protections and institutions of government that we were all apparently brainwashed to believe in would crumble into dust like this! This brainwashing was used to assure us that our law enforcement and justice systems were fair, objective, and just. It was used to cultivate xenophobia and a sadly false sense of American Exceptionalism. And it was used to convince us that what’s happening right now could NEVER possibly happen. So no … those surprised or shocked or whatever are not idiots. They just believed the lies we were all sold. |