Anonymous
02/14/2026 09:15
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:The most important book you can read this month is the Captive Mind.
I just read "It Can't Happen Here". Must read! It's crazy that it was written in 1935.
Anonymous
02/14/2026 07:01
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Maybe we will have clean streets and parks and playgrounds in Washington and SF devoid of liquor bottles, used Jimmy hats and hobos who stink of shit.
If you want to restore funding for mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse to pre-Reagan levels, then yes, we can have these things.
Just "clearing them out" does not solve the issue.
I think PP would be fine with camps.
If we are talking about the guy who took a dump by a tree by Eastern market as I walked my kid to school or the two hobos screwing in my neighbors yard at 7 am, then yeah I’m fine with camps.
The reality is that camps need inmates so no one is safe - what you may be fine with may become your home soon enough.
They look at the long list of dummies that voted for MAGA that were then destroyed by maga and are still thinking that it won’t be them. It’s hilarious.
Anonymous
02/14/2026 01:58
Subject: Re:What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How many people who are concerned are:
emailing/calling/sending postcards to your elected reps to either call them out or support them?
That’s a really great idea. I’m gonna do that so I can talk to a 19 year old intern who will then send me a form letter. Good thinking.
The 19 year old will log the call, and the number of constituents citing the issue will be reported to the Congressperson. When that number gets large enough to be a political threat, the Congressperson May “moderate” their views.
Anonymous
02/14/2026 01:28
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m at the point now that I’m trying to envision our lives in the coming years. What will it be like? What will our daily existence feel like under a dictatorship? Or authoritarian government or wherever we’re headed? What will it be like for our kids who are in middle school right now? What will their futures look like? FWIW we are white. My younger brother (34) is gay. My mom relies on a pension. We have various friends who are Jewish, black, deaf, autistic, LGBTQ. I’m really sad and scared about where we’re clearly headed. Will we be able to find happiness and livelihood? Travel? Express ourselves?
You won’t be freely posting like this on message boards that log your IP address. 🙄
That’s here now.
Homeland Security Wants Social Media Sites to Expose Anti-ICE Accounts
“The department has sent Google, Meta and other companies hundreds of subpoenas for information on accounts that track or comment on Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials and tech workers said.”
Gift link https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/technology/dhs-anti-ice-social-media.html?smid=url-share
Anonymous
10/20/2025 07:44
Subject: Re:What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:This may help figure out what dictatorship looks like now:
https://davisvanguard.org/2025/10/trump-autocracy-kleptocracy-threat/
Trump’s disdain for the rule of law is also unmistakable.
Applebaum draws a distinction between the rule of law—where everyone is accountable—and what autocrats call rule by law, where legal mechanisms are used selectively to target enemies. Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity” and his promises to “lock up” rivals embody that shift. Law, in his world, serves power; it does not constrain it.
Applebaum’s concept of the “fire hose of falsehoods” perfectly captures Trump’s communication style: constant, blatant lying not to persuade, but to exhaust.
The goal isn’t belief—it’s nihilism.
“If you can’t understand what’s going on, you won’t join a movement for democracy,” she writes. Trump’s torrent of conspiracy theories about election fraud and the “deep state” is designed to erode trust until citizens stop trying to discern truth at all.
Modern autocrats, Applebaum notes, also hide theft behind outrage.
Leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán—a far better model for Trump than any monarch—use culture wars to distract from corruption and frame critics as enemies of national identity.
Orbán has rewritten Hungary’s constitution, captured the media, and stoked moral panic about immigration, gender, and religion while consolidating power. Trump’s America follows the same pattern: polarization as cover for self-enrichment.
Both leaders demonstrate Applebaum’s central observation about censorship.
“Unlike their twentieth-century predecessors, today’s autocrats cannot impose censorship easily or effectively,” she writes. “Instead, they focus on winning audiences—building support by channeling resentment, hatred, and the desire for superiority.”
Modern authoritarianism doesn’t silence speech; it drowns it in noise. The objective is not to forbid truth but to make truth meaningless.
That dynamic is visible in the meme circulating online: “Reminder: A king would not allow a protest called ‘No Kings.’”
On the surface it sounds clever, even harmless. But it’s a small piece of propaganda, a reactionary defense of power disguised as common sense. Its subtext says: “If you can protest, you’re free—so stop complaining.” It reframes dissent as self-contradictory and mocks the very idea of protest. That’s how cynicism spreads: by teaching people that resistance is pointless.
This is what Applebaum calls the victory of irony.
Autocrats no longer need to ban books or imprison every critic; they simply make protest sound absurd. The meme doesn’t defend monarchy—it teaches passivity. It tells citizens that permission is freedom, that they should be grateful for their leash. When this kind of cynicism becomes normal, democracy begins to hollow out from within.
The real threat isn’t a king who abolishes protest; it’s a leader who convinces people protest doesn’t matter.
That is the essence of Orbánism—and the trajectory Trump is following. Applebaum describes how Orbán keeps elections and courts intact but drains them of meaning, using patronage, propaganda, and disinformation to dominate public life. Elections still happen, but only one side can win. The press still exists, but only to echo power. That’s not monarchy—it’s managed democracy, autocracy in democratic clothing.
Here's what it looks like these days:
Mark Bray, the Rutgers history professor who wrote Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (and who is NOT a member of any antifa group and never has been) was put on TPUSA's watchlist several years ago and received threats, but things had settled down. Recently the Rutgers TPUSA tried to get him fired. Two officers of the campus organization were not students there and not eligible. Then Bray got a phone threat about his family (they have young children) and the caller had his address. Family decided to leave the US. Get to the airport and someone has CANCELLED their trip.
They did finally manage to get out of the US, but this is what people who get people fired over Charlie Kirk are doing to other people. BTW, the book is not a polemic, it is a history.
This article is great, pp, thank you.
Anonymous
10/20/2025 07:30
Subject: Re:What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:How many people who are concerned are:
emailing/calling/sending postcards to your elected reps to either call them out or support them?
That’s a really great idea. I’m gonna do that so I can talk to a 19 year old intern who will then send me a form letter. Good thinking.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 21:22
Subject: Re:What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
This may help figure out what dictatorship looks like now:
https://davisvanguard.org/2025/10/trump-autocracy-kleptocracy-threat/
Trump’s disdain for the rule of law is also unmistakable.
Applebaum draws a distinction between the rule of law—where everyone is accountable—and what autocrats call rule by law, where legal mechanisms are used selectively to target enemies. Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity” and his promises to “lock up” rivals embody that shift. Law, in his world, serves power; it does not constrain it.
Applebaum’s concept of the “fire hose of falsehoods” perfectly captures Trump’s communication style: constant, blatant lying not to persuade, but to exhaust.
The goal isn’t belief—it’s nihilism.
“If you can’t understand what’s going on, you won’t join a movement for democracy,” she writes. Trump’s torrent of conspiracy theories about election fraud and the “deep state” is designed to erode trust until citizens stop trying to discern truth at all.
Modern autocrats, Applebaum notes, also hide theft behind outrage.
Leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán—a far better model for Trump than any monarch—use culture wars to distract from corruption and frame critics as enemies of national identity.
Orbán has rewritten Hungary’s constitution, captured the media, and stoked moral panic about immigration, gender, and religion while consolidating power. Trump’s America follows the same pattern: polarization as cover for self-enrichment.
Both leaders demonstrate Applebaum’s central observation about censorship.
“Unlike their twentieth-century predecessors, today’s autocrats cannot impose censorship easily or effectively,” she writes. “Instead, they focus on winning audiences—building support by channeling resentment, hatred, and the desire for superiority.”
Modern authoritarianism doesn’t silence speech; it drowns it in noise. The objective is not to forbid truth but to make truth meaningless.
That dynamic is visible in the meme circulating online: “Reminder: A king would not allow a protest called ‘No Kings.’”
On the surface it sounds clever, even harmless. But it’s a small piece of propaganda, a reactionary defense of power disguised as common sense. Its subtext says: “If you can protest, you’re free—so stop complaining.” It reframes dissent as self-contradictory and mocks the very idea of protest. That’s how cynicism spreads: by teaching people that resistance is pointless.
This is what Applebaum calls the victory of irony.
Autocrats no longer need to ban books or imprison every critic; they simply make protest sound absurd. The meme doesn’t defend monarchy—it teaches passivity. It tells citizens that permission is freedom, that they should be grateful for their leash. When this kind of cynicism becomes normal, democracy begins to hollow out from within.
The real threat isn’t a king who abolishes protest; it’s a leader who convinces people protest doesn’t matter.
That is the essence of Orbánism—and the trajectory Trump is following. Applebaum describes how Orbán keeps elections and courts intact but drains them of meaning, using patronage, propaganda, and disinformation to dominate public life. Elections still happen, but only one side can win. The press still exists, but only to echo power. That’s not monarchy—it’s managed democracy, autocracy in democratic clothing.
Here's what it looks like these days:
Mark Bray, the Rutgers history professor who wrote Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (and who is NOT a member of any antifa group and never has been) was put on TPUSA's watchlist several years ago and received threats, but things had settled down. Recently the Rutgers TPUSA tried to get him fired. Two officers of the campus organization were not students there and not eligible. Then Bray got a phone threat about his family (they have young children) and the caller had his address. Family decided to leave the US. Get to the airport and someone has CANCELLED their trip.
They did finally manage to get out of the US, but this is what people who get people fired over Charlie Kirk are doing to other people. BTW, the book is not a polemic, it is a history.
https://davisvanguard.org/2025/10/trump-autocracy-kleptocracy-threat/
Trump’s disdain for the rule of law is also unmistakable.
Applebaum draws a distinction between the rule of law—where everyone is accountable—and what autocrats call rule by law, where legal mechanisms are used selectively to target enemies. Trump’s claim of “absolute immunity” and his promises to “lock up” rivals embody that shift. Law, in his world, serves power; it does not constrain it.
Applebaum’s concept of the “fire hose of falsehoods” perfectly captures Trump’s communication style: constant, blatant lying not to persuade, but to exhaust.
The goal isn’t belief—it’s nihilism.
“If you can’t understand what’s going on, you won’t join a movement for democracy,” she writes. Trump’s torrent of conspiracy theories about election fraud and the “deep state” is designed to erode trust until citizens stop trying to discern truth at all.
Modern autocrats, Applebaum notes, also hide theft behind outrage.
Leaders like Hungary’s Viktor Orbán—a far better model for Trump than any monarch—use culture wars to distract from corruption and frame critics as enemies of national identity.
Orbán has rewritten Hungary’s constitution, captured the media, and stoked moral panic about immigration, gender, and religion while consolidating power. Trump’s America follows the same pattern: polarization as cover for self-enrichment.
Both leaders demonstrate Applebaum’s central observation about censorship.
“Unlike their twentieth-century predecessors, today’s autocrats cannot impose censorship easily or effectively,” she writes. “Instead, they focus on winning audiences—building support by channeling resentment, hatred, and the desire for superiority.”
Modern authoritarianism doesn’t silence speech; it drowns it in noise. The objective is not to forbid truth but to make truth meaningless.
That dynamic is visible in the meme circulating online: “Reminder: A king would not allow a protest called ‘No Kings.’”
On the surface it sounds clever, even harmless. But it’s a small piece of propaganda, a reactionary defense of power disguised as common sense. Its subtext says: “If you can protest, you’re free—so stop complaining.” It reframes dissent as self-contradictory and mocks the very idea of protest. That’s how cynicism spreads: by teaching people that resistance is pointless.
This is what Applebaum calls the victory of irony.
Autocrats no longer need to ban books or imprison every critic; they simply make protest sound absurd. The meme doesn’t defend monarchy—it teaches passivity. It tells citizens that permission is freedom, that they should be grateful for their leash. When this kind of cynicism becomes normal, democracy begins to hollow out from within.
The real threat isn’t a king who abolishes protest; it’s a leader who convinces people protest doesn’t matter.
That is the essence of Orbánism—and the trajectory Trump is following. Applebaum describes how Orbán keeps elections and courts intact but drains them of meaning, using patronage, propaganda, and disinformation to dominate public life. Elections still happen, but only one side can win. The press still exists, but only to echo power. That’s not monarchy—it’s managed democracy, autocracy in democratic clothing.
Here's what it looks like these days:
Mark Bray, the Rutgers history professor who wrote Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (and who is NOT a member of any antifa group and never has been) was put on TPUSA's watchlist several years ago and received threats, but things had settled down. Recently the Rutgers TPUSA tried to get him fired. Two officers of the campus organization were not students there and not eligible. Then Bray got a phone threat about his family (they have young children) and the caller had his address. Family decided to leave the US. Get to the airport and someone has CANCELLED their trip.
They did finally manage to get out of the US, but this is what people who get people fired over Charlie Kirk are doing to other people. BTW, the book is not a polemic, it is a history.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 20:19
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Maybe we will have clean streets and parks and playgrounds in Washington and SF devoid of liquor bottles, used Jimmy hats and hobos who stink of shit.
If you want to restore funding for mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse to pre-Reagan levels, then yes, we can have these things.
Just "clearing them out" does not solve the issue.
I think PP would be fine with camps.
If we are talking about the guy who took a dump by a tree by Eastern market as I walked my kid to school or the two hobos screwing in my neighbors yard at 7 am, then yeah I’m fine with camps.
OMG my husband and I were walking down the street in eastern market last year and saw some dude just taking a shit on the sidewalk in front of us. So gross.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 20:18
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Maybe we will have clean streets and parks and playgrounds in Washington and SF devoid of liquor bottles, used Jimmy hats and hobos who stink of shit.
If you want to restore funding for mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse to pre-Reagan levels, then yes, we can have these things.
Just "clearing them out" does not solve the issue.
I think PP would be fine with camps.
If we are talking about the guy who took a dump by a tree by Eastern market as I walked my kid to school or the two hobos screwing in my neighbors yard at 7 am, then yeah I’m fine with camps.
You heard it hear first, folks. MAGA supports concentration camps.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 20:16
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
we are considering not having kids?? But I’m not sure if these posts are just fear mongering or what.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 20:10
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Maybe we will have clean streets and parks and playgrounds in Washington and SF devoid of liquor bottles, used Jimmy hats and hobos who stink of shit.
If you want to restore funding for mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse to pre-Reagan levels, then yes, we can have these things.
Just "clearing them out" does not solve the issue.
I think PP would be fine with camps.
If we are talking about the guy who took a dump by a tree by Eastern market as I walked my kid to school or the two hobos screwing in my neighbors yard at 7 am, then yeah I’m fine with camps.
The reality is that camps need inmates so no one is safe - what you may be fine with may become your home soon enough.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 20:06
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Maybe we will have clean streets and parks and playgrounds in Washington and SF devoid of liquor bottles, used Jimmy hats and hobos who stink of shit.
If you want to restore funding for mental illness and drug and alcohol abuse to pre-Reagan levels, then yes, we can have these things.
Just "clearing them out" does not solve the issue.
I think PP would be fine with camps.
If we are talking about the guy who took a dump by a tree by Eastern market as I walked my kid to school or the two hobos screwing in my neighbors yard at 7 am, then yeah I’m fine with camps.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 18:34
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There are not going to be any midterm elections.
Stop. There will be. But it will be a HUGE lift because Democrats are going to have to over perform six points just to break even.
So start find a group to volunteer with that registers voters in swing states now. Fund them as well.
There was a special election in AZ- yet to be recognized. Why should we think midterms in 2026 will be different?
Well, that’s to protect the Trumpstein files from being released.
What’s your point?
Are you saying that in 14 months Johnson will all of a sudden respect the constitution?
Depends on the results. But there is one thing we can all guarantee with absolute certainty, if the Democrats ever gain power again then the Republicans will pretend to care about the Constitution, executive power and spending again.
They used to be more subtle about it.
It will be a long time before I forgive and forget for what the Republicans have done to America.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 18:21
Subject: What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There are not going to be any midterm elections.
Stop. There will be. But it will be a HUGE lift because Democrats are going to have to over perform six points just to break even.
So start find a group to volunteer with that registers voters in swing states now. Fund them as well.
There was a special election in AZ- yet to be recognized. Why should we think midterms in 2026 will be different?
Well, that’s to protect the Trumpstein files from being released.
What’s your point?
Are you saying that in 14 months Johnson will all of a sudden respect the constitution?
Depends on the results. But there is one thing we can all guarantee with absolute certainty, if the Democrats ever gain power again then the Republicans will pretend to care about the Constitution, executive power and spending again.
They used to be more subtle about it.
Anonymous
10/19/2025 18:19
Subject: Re:What’s it going to be like living in a dictatorship?
How many people who are concerned are:
emailing/calling/sending postcards to your elected reps to either call them out or support them?
emailing/calling/sending postcards to your elected reps to either call them out or support them?