‘Absolutely Disgusting’: Trump Sparks Fury By Joking He Can Cancel Future Elections If U.S. Gets Into a War
https://www.mediaite.com/politics/absolutely-disgusting-trump-sparks-fury-by-joking-he-can-cancel-future-elections-if-u-s-gets-into-a-war/Open linkView original on lemmy.world845
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This isn't a joke it's testing the waters.
This is always how he starts things.
yeah love how they always call it jokes. The only jokes trump involves himself with is himself and the people he brings into his circle.
He's not testing the waters.
He's normalizing the illegal discourse.
And if he does that. Expect people to do some nasty business in response to his dictatorship.
I really don't have hope in Americans to do so. I hope I'm wrong.
The only hope I have left is the hope that I'm wrong.
Trump doesn't joke
We've had elections during a war before and we can do it again. Ukrainian laws don't apply to the US.
Yeah, the law pertaining to not holding elections during martial law in Ukraine was created during another person's presidency as well. He didn't make that. (It stemmed from Russias invasion into Ukraine in 2014, law made in 2015). Zelensky didn't become president until 2019.
If the war was closer or even inside the US, it might be a different thing. I wouldn't be surprised if he could still consider it though.
1864 begs to differ.
Don't forget 1812 either.
I can't help but feel like a civil war is a different scenario. Russia currently controls 20% of Ukraine. For the sake of simplicity, that's 10 US states. I have a very hard time believing that if a foreign country had complete control of 10 states, and the majority of the people of those states, for all intents and purpose were unable to vote, an election would go over smoothly. I have to imagine it would be an utter shitshow.
Practically, if the US was actually occupied by a foreign force (having a puppet president doesn't count), then the occupied areas will not be able to cast their ballots, and the states being partially occupied will have a biased result and electors will be appointed by those living in unoccupied areas. If a whole state is occupied, they probably would have electoral votes that are not cast (since they wouldn't have a certificate of ascertainment from the now defunct state government). Election would get very ugly even if its a 51/49 split in the remaining electoral college votes since if, say, a state with 18 electors is occupied, one side could get 265 electoral votes and the other gets 255 electoral votes, so there would be a constitutional crisis on whether this counts as a majority (265/520) or not a majority (265/538).
But I'm guessing they'll go by Civil War precedent and just exclude the occupied states from being counted so its probably 520 as the total electoral votes using that same example.
I see where you're coming from, though I would argue that if we're at war in '28 it won't be because the US was invaded by a foreign power.
THE FILES
THE PHILES
Won't change anything
It certainly will. Might not change how he acts or the support he has, but it will change the name I call MAGA or any person that would ever entertain supporting him - past, present or future.
Reality is consensus.
He is NOT JOKING. This is his plan.
You think he's deploying the military on US soil because he gives a fuck about law and order? Guess again. He's testing the waters now to see what he can get away with when the time comes.
Federal elections have never been cancelled or postponed in the history of the nation. Not even for the Civil War, or WWII. It's mandated by the constitution.
Same how the 14th Amendment to the Constitution is basically invalidated as long as some states hold off on challenging his EO undoing it.
He'll do some "Elections will happen, but only in states that are nice to me and I expect to win" EO and will basically take CA and IL out of the results, and their results won't be certified by Congress. Because right now it's a race to rig 2026 to save donor campaign money.
He is a dictator. There will be no more elections. America is an autocracy.
He’s telling everyone what his plan is. War incoming by Jan 2029.
I'll be surprised if it doesn't happen before midterms.
So glad I'm going to study abroad. Good luck drafting me.
Where you headed? I have a stepping stone path via Canada, a potential job in Germany, and am also considering the Netherlands.
lol cool so he just said the quiet part of the playbook out loud.
For those in the back: he’s gonna get the US in to a Serious Fucking War right before the next election so that he can pretend he’s got justification to call off elections.
Pay no mind to the fact that FDR won his third term at the peak of WW2.
Come to think of it: that’s probably why he wants to do it: he knows he probably can’t win another election (putting aside the illegality of running and serving for a third term), and doesn’t want to think about himself being overshadowed by “some old librul Democrat from the 1940s”. And yes, that is a completely serious guesstimate on orangeboi’s rationale for this.
Legally, it won't matter. He doesn't hold office until the next guy, his term ends in 2029. If there is no replacement, the office is simply vacant, and we already have processes for that.
Legally, it won't matter. If (when) he's ignoring the laws to that level, it doesn't matter what anyone pretends happened with an election. The laws will have no bearing anyway.
Most importantly, the states run the elections.
So he can "cancel" the election, but only red states would listen. Blue states would still hold elections and report results. And with red states not holding elections, it's safe to say any election would lean heavily left.
So republicans would only lose seats, and trump would get zero electoral college votes. Well, most likely every red state would still try to send electors for trump
After midterms we'll be able to see what's gonna happen if that plays out.
But honestly, blue states should be prioritizing building up their own NG the next three years just in case.
He can't fucking die soon enough.
That's the other hope by a lot of us.
He could keep going for another 20 years.
It’s cute that you think laws matter to the fascists.
That’s the entire gist of what I’m trying to point out here. You’re stuck on what “legality” means. I’m saying they’re changing the definition.
That’ll be before the midterms, in case anyone wasn’t clear about that.
He truly just cannot help himself... Could be our one saving grace. That and the sheer incompetence.
“Serving” LOL as of Trump is serving anyone but himself. He’s made billions in bribes since taking power. He doesn’t serve Americans, he serves himself to whatever he wants. Mostly golf and killing people.
He isn't joking and you shouldn't pretend he is
We didn't cancel elections during the Civil War.
Were they cancelled during WW2
No. Elections are constitutionally required and have never been postponed. The president has no constitutional authority to postpone one.
Oh I can hear the scribbling for a bold new executive order that will cause all kinds of silence from the courts
Oh good thing the US has a president that totally respects the constitution then. Phew - got me worried there for a second.
Oh I can hear the scribbling for a bold new executive order that will cause all kinds of silence from the courts
From your lips to the ears of God 🙏
Amen
Zelenskyy’s comment about war and instability was NOT BEING THE SIDE THAT STARTED THE WAR.
IMPORTANT DISTINCTION.
anyways, EPSTEIN FILES. WHERE THEY AT?
It's not even that. It's about what the country's structure permits. Ukraine doesn't allow for midwar elections, the us doesn't allow for skipping them.
It's really not. Lincoln held midterms in the middle of the Civil War. FDR held elections after Pearl Harbor. Ffs, Bush cleaned up the year after 9/11 and rode the pro-war election wave through 2004.
The idea that your elected leadership is immune to recall when you're in a state of war is anathema to democracy. It insulates unpopular leaders and empowers military dictators.
There is no distinction, save that liberals like Zelensky and hate Trump.
It makes a big difference whether the war is in your own country and touches everyone, or if it's waged elsewhere or touches only a small part of your country.
US Civil War didn't have 500 drones flying to various cities across US each day and night. If Ukraine had elections now, there would be queues on the street and those queues would get bombed by the Russia. I don't think this would have been a risk around the time of Pearl Harbour.
What is your suggestion for how the elections in Ukraine could be organized safely and so that the result would be reasonably representative?
The Confederate Army got as far north as Gettysburg, Pennsylvania by 1863. The Union Army's Anaconda Plan embargoed the entire Gulf Coast and resulted in the bombardment of cities as far south as New Orleans and Galveston. Sherman's march wrecked a trail of destruction from Atlanta to Savanah, across 285 miles. They didn't need remote controlled planes to bombard cities. They had troops outright razing cities to the ground month by month.
Do Mail In Voting. That's the same method we've been using in peacetime and wartime, around the planet, for centuries. It worked during COVID in 2020. It worked to end South African Apartheid in 1994. Mail in voting was vital to maintain democracy during mass deployments in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. And, again, in the middle of the US civil war in 1862.
But, again, this isn't an issue of whether democracy can work. This is an issue of whether Zelensky can maintain his position as his popularity nosedives. What scares the shit out of American liberals is the idea that a popular vote in Ukraine will reveal people aren't enthusiastic about another year or three of grinding attrition with the Russians. Ukraine can't risk having an election that refutes the dogma of the hawks.
Of cpurse Zelensky won't be able to hold his position if his popularity nosedives. That's a simple answer to a simple question.
But how is that relevant? His popularity isn't going to nosedive in that manner anytime soon.
Elections are the means by which we survey a burraucrat's popularity.
Well, for that there are other ways as well. Elections are for making decisions. Popularity can be polled in easier ways as well.
But what I asked was why is it relevant that Zelensky won't stay president very long of he somehow loses his support among the people? It's a self-clarity, so I was interested in knowing why you chose to mention that.
Unless you're included in the sample group, your stance isn't being counted. Polling is great for gauging sentiment between cycles, but if you're not actually doing a fully election poll, you're effectively empowering the pollsters to set the policy (implicitly or explicitly) based on their weights and biases. Frank Luntz can, pretty famously, bend his polling group into a pretzel when he puts his mind to it.
He's the head of the government right now. He has the most to gain by postponing elections indefinitely.
Bush was in the middle of his term a year after 9/11, I assume you mean the Republican Party?
Bush's party, the Republican Party, took the majority of the legislature after 2002 and greatly expanded the powers of the chief executive office that Bush held.
"yes" would have been much easier to type, just for your future convenience
I was a teenager around that time, and I remember Bush being insanely popular for awhile.
So Putin invades Alaska in 2028 to give him an excuse, got it.
Also America has never really been invaded during an election...at least not its homeland...to any significant extent. The civil war is the best example, but that wasn't even a foreign enemy. Now if China say invaded the west coast, and cities like Portland, LA, San Diego, etc are solidly in Chinese hands wiht the Chinese moving across the rockies and the President and Congress come along and and collectively go "We think we should pause elections until things get stable"....I'd have a hard time arguing against that.
I would say this is impeachable if they already didn't make such a joke out of the punishment.
AND he fucks children
Rapes
Hey guys I hearn fücking kïbs is cööl nöw :DDDDDDDDD
GOPedo Bear
Oh no, pedo bear is back.
He was inside you all along
The real pedo bears are the friends you made along the way.
Did you know that doing shit like this is how 4chan brought nazis back? Interesting little fact. Also, Poe's Law.
Tone indicators exist. Use them. Thanks.
Put another way, why would you ever give refuge to those who hate? To help them convince others that there are more of them out there than there actually are?
the meme and the way I used it has layers, many of them already predicated on me being an ancient and emberassing piece of trash. if I have to use tone indicators other than the ones I did, I'll just delete it
Ya’ll think the US will ever collectively understand that they can’t keep pretending like these things are jokes or “wouldn’t actually happen”? I swear, Trump could grow a little mustache and people would be saying “oh no, I can’t believe we’re about to fall into fascism!”.
No. Literally warned people and yelled at them that we would be inviting kidnappings (ICE), abortion rights, and gay rights, civil rights… damn there is so much that has already has happened. He can do no wrong to his base and the Supreme Court here and congress has pretty much given him free rein. The cognitive dissonance is astounding.
I guess if they keep pretending it’s only ever “just getting started” they can pretend as if their inaction was warranted.
Yeah pretty much “we have to wait and see” is what is frequently parroted after everything I have said to try to get these people to see the massive error that is going kill them and the rest of us with them.
Honestly the Trump/ Epstein thing is the closest I’ve seen them wake up too this time (since we’re shown the evidence when it first blew) , but this time it doesn’t seem to be sliding down as easily, but I’m almost positive Trump will find a distraction e.g. such as war…
They fucking told us. “He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting”. They don’t care if they go down with the ship as long as brown people do as well
I think cruelty is what they want. Our society is built on cruelty, genocide and disenfranchisement. The progress we made was the fluke. I hope we will learn but I see people all around who are cheering all of this on.
News flash people, he's not fuckin joking. Arm yourselves while you can.
I thought that's why y'all kept sacrificing children to gun violence, but apparently they were to support, not fight, facism. Or at least to have them hanging there while supposedly American values get trampled.
Look, it's not simple. Armed rebellion is not a good time. If that course is taken it's critical to first understand where the states fall. Since each has it's own military, among other things, no tactical decisions can be made until those lines are drawn, or fragmented accordingly.
It's kinda the equivalent of asking why the Italians aren't doing a revolution because the EU decided to ban Pasta. Like sure they did that, it's not good, but like what happens if Germany doesn't participate and Ireland sides with Italy?
People keep wondering why we aren't in a full blown shooting war yet, even trying to bait us into it. That day will come, it's nearly inevitable at some level, but it takes time to get to that point. It will take EVERY American to feel like we have done EVERYTHING we can to avoid it, and then the MAGA Nazis are finally going to do something to put us over the edge, and it will be on.
I have a few red lines. One is my son. My son will not be fighting in any MAGA war, period. If he gets drafted he will not go. If the government does anything to him, I will become a very dangerous person.
Another is elections. If elections are suspended or cancelled for ANY reason, then America has ceased to exist, and I cooperate with nothing. I don't pay taxes, I don't follow the laws, etc. As far as I am concerned, there is no government, no law enforcement, no laws. Without elections, we are without a government, we are in a state of Anarchy, and I will recognize no authority.
People keep moving the goalposts. I've been hearing next line in the sand will be 'the onec since their Godking rose to power.
I'm sure it will be the files bro. Surely the files. Trust me bro one more scandal.
Also, this country is huge and most of us are living paycheck to paycheck. It's tough to have an armed rebellion when you can't afford enough gas to drive to the front lines.
I hope you realize your argument boils down to "because the right people aren't suffering yet". 🤢
You motherfuckers are already armed. But he's not black or a child no no one is gonna shoot him anyway
Don't know why you got a downvote, you're not wrong.
Because white people aren't shot in the U.S.
https://www.kff.org/state-health-policy-data/state-indicator/firearms-death-rate-by-raceethnicity/
Does a civil war count?
That's exactly what he's hoping for.
He's militarizing cities as we speak. If he keeps amping it up, protests will theoretically follow. MAGA will find some reason to claim these protests "turned violent". Trump declares martial law and cancels elections. Done.
This is a trial balloon
Industrial strength "Joking" being used in this headline.
Trump has no sense of humor nor has he ever told a joke.
He's not joking. What does he have to do to be taken seriously? A hostile takeover of the capital?
Joking?
yea, you know just like how he "joked" about rounding up brown people, or cut most people's medical aid, or destroy the american soft power.
you know, just funny things he would totally never ever do, because that would mean his voters are retarded.
guys guys he's just joshing around. he's not actually gonna use the world's most notoriously influential military power to invade mexico or greenland when the economy fails and he needs to steal a bunch of shit to prop it up. those invasion plans theyre planning are just for funzies trust me bro
That’s what this shitfuck does. He ‘jokes’ about an idea, then repeats it until it sounds normal, then does whatever the fuck he wants and nobody does anything about it.
"by joking" you fucking dumbwits, are you not learning at all? He doesn't care if he can or not, he will bruteforce his way through legislation with his MAGAlitia. They are ALREADY utilizing fear and suppression with their masked terrorists kidnapping people off the streets or posting up next to demonstations. If you are not acting now, tomorrow might already be too late.
Release the Trump/Epstein files
99% sure he wasn't joking. He was plotting.
As soon as he stops being president all that Epstein shit is going to fall over him, he knows that so he's going to try to use his power to stay in power.
Can he have a stroke or massive heart attack or something already? Fucking hell man. Nature never takes the ones it should.
Then they 25th Amendment him and install JDV as Thiels hand-picked successor. Somehow speedrunning our way into some weird techno-fascist hellacspe faster than we already are.
Or he could've already had one. Allegedly Reagan was declining for years and the people around him successfully hid it until he was out of office.
Only the good die young.
He lives such an unhealthy lifestyle that it is amazing he has held out this long.
I'm convinced putin recommended this.
Not sure. Putin has other means of staying in power, like killing political opponents, disillusion and propaganda. The reason he invaded Ukraine is because he is an irredentist bozo that wants his beloved Soviet Union back, not because he was threatened.
He recommended that Trump do it, they mean.
I'm fucking tired of this fucking dumbass and everyone who enables him by saying he's just joking. Sometimes, people are not joking. It's not just a fucking prank, bro. And even if it was? What kind of professional politician just pulls pranks nonstop?
He's never joking. He's a genuine psychopath, he has no sense of humor. He's just learned to pretend like he has one to fool the normal humans without broken personalities. If he says it, he's serious.
He only presents it like a joke to get people used to the idea. Anyone that reacts with outrage at his statements are immediately mocked and denigrated as dramatic nonsensical leftists. Then when they actually do the thing they claimed would never happen, the tune changes from accusing the left of senseless hysteria to them accusing them of being anti-American, Pro-crime, etc etc.
Every step they take with the federalization of armed forces is to get the populace used to the idea of it happening. And, so far, that has been largely successful. So when they actually mobilize, there will be far less pushback.
Okay, so you've clearly been paying attention. Keep it up brother, I'm sure you've already figured out that there's a LOT of trouble ahead. We're not getting out of this without violence.
They will continue to escalate things until they take a major action like the Nazis did with the Night of Long Knives. It's just a matter of what that will be. I'm expecting something with Mexico. Since he has started talking about military incursions to deal with cartels, if applied to the strategy aforementioned, he's conditioning the public to get used to the idea. Then, when he invades Mexico and pisses off even more Americans, I think they're expecting riots in response. Once the riots happen, he will send in military not to occupy cities but to completely take them over.
Yeah, it will be Mexico. He can rally a significant portion of the population against "cartel terrorists," but he would have a hard time doing that against Canada. Plus, Canada is essentially England, and even an ignorant moron like him can figure out why that would be a bad idea.
And yeah, they are already staging it, "leaking" details, etc.
Yes he did, and he definitely wants to. Now… where are the Epstein files?
I hate to say it bud, but just like everything else he has ever done, it will be swept under the rug. People will stop worrying about it. He’ll pardon anyone involved if it ever even comes close to coming out.
All this bullshit about, “he said he’d release the Epstein files!!”
That isn’t what I remember.
What I remember is them asking about declassifying this and that, “yes, yeah, absolutely”. When asked about the Epstein files, “yes. Well, maybe not so much that one. I don’t want innocent people caught up in that.”
I’m paraphrasing and doing my best to quote, but every article I read fails to mention that. I can’t even find it when I search for it.
It was clear from before the election that he would keep those covered up.
When he said that, people cared for about ten seconds. When he sent his people to overthrow the government, his base cared for about 10 seconds and then blamed “ainteefuh”.
When he pardoned all of those “ainteefuh”, no one batted an eye. Even people who looked me in the eyes and swore that it mattered. “He’s gonna do it on a case by case basis.” They said. “He won’t just pardon them all, it would send a terrible message.”
One week later, “Well, they were political prisoners. It wasn’t as bad as the news made it look.”
FUCK Donald Trump. He can do anything he wants to do. The rest of us need to just bend over. That is reality now.
I’m sorry.
We’ll see how it goes in 2028. I ain’t got high hopes. I wish I could have high hopes. Reality has shown me that my high hopes are silly.
Sorry to be all doom and gloom. You can tell me all day that the sky is neon pink, but I can see with my own eyes that it’s still blue.
Agreed on all counts :( I just don’t want all this to distract from the topic that might take him down, one way or another. The Epstein files make him afraid. He’ll make mistakes. That’s what we need.
He's not joking.
"Joking"
This guy is just such a dickhead. The type of people that still support this asshole are very much telling on themselves.
Probably watched Archie Bunker and rooted for him.
I think these people are watching The Handmaid's Tale and not understanding that Gilead is supposed to be bad
My parents watched that show. They thought it was really well done. We used to discuss it during the first couple of seasons... I haven't spoken to them since January because they refuse to disavow Trump and/or admit that voting for him was a mistake.
It's like... What the fuck did you think it was about? How do you watch a show like that and completely miss every possible message?
Hmmmm...
Release the Trump/Epstein files
Could this be why his aids looked "pallid" after his meeting with Putin?
No one is that dumb. Right? If you're in the inner circle, you know.
Is that why they drew up attack plans for Mexico? Probably some sort of bullshit like the gangs and caravans of immigrants keep coming over the border, so they have to go into Mexico to deal with them before the evil dangerous criminals get to the US border. Then occupy a part of Mexico and call off the elections due to the war. Trump is always talking about how he's like a "wartime" president.
Mexico isn't a NATO country either, so NATO will just let him do it, just like they're doing to Gaza and just like they're doing to Ukraine.
I think you hit the nail on the head.
So did they cancel elections when US invaded Iraq? Afghanistan? Vietnam? Nah… but Trump just wants to cancel elections. He is a dictator. Since there’s nothing and no one stopping him - there’s no reason why he won’t just do it. It’s what 70 million Americans wants anyway.
Maybe he's planning for the next war to be closer to home. Mexico, Panama and Canada should take this seriously.
We are
If we got through WWII, with troops scattered around the world, without canceling elections or even disenfranchising the soldiers fighting overseas, he has no excuse. (How did a solider in France, a sailor in the Philippine Sea, or a marine on Leyte Island vote? Mail-in ballots.)
If this mf tries for a third term. We civil war.
You have been at war since the January 6th beerhall putsch attempt. It's just that one side didn't realise and didn't even put your new dictator into a luxury prison first before letting him get re-elected. Rookie mistake honestly.
Why wait?
U first
I'm hung over, can we reschedule?
You are clearly not understanding what is going on. America wants what is going on. If he stays in power (he will) half of Americans want him to. No one is gonna stop him. He will never give up as much power as he has, willingly. Americans will not take up arms against him either.
One of the reasons he's so desperate to end the Ukraine War is so he can collect his Nobel Peace Prize, freeing him to start his war with Mexico, and have a draft, essentially enslaving the entire young male demographic so they can't be used against him in a Civil War.
Then he can use the Mexican War as an excuse to suspend elections, even though we've never cancelled an election in our history, not even during the Civil War.
The fact that he lept on Z's remark about no election, illustrated that he's been giving this a lot of thought, wondering what might work as a reasonable excuse. Dems love Zelensky, and he cancelled elections because of the war, so if America is in a war, he can cancel elections, and the Dems will have to accept it. It won't occur to him that there's a difference between fighting a war in a separate country, and fighting a war within your own capital city.
It also won't occur to him that just because something happened in a different country, doesn't mean we have to accept it here. We have a Constitution, that's the rule book, not some nation on the other side of the world.
It boggles my mind that there are still Americans who cling to legalism as some kind of saviour, even after all the months of proof that it is absolutely no barrier to the fascists doing exactly what they want.
Just because they want to pretend the Constitution doesn't exist doesn't mean we have to accept it.
We don't have to match the MAGAs immorality to beat them, we just have to play Hard Ball, and force them to follow the rules, and the rules are the Constitution. If they refuse to follow the rules, we can't just say "Oh well, we tried," and give up. You FORCE them to adhere to those rules, whether they like it or not. And if they won't cooperate, you keep pushing, and you NEVER stop demanding that they follow the rules.
Make them obey, period. You don't disparage those that are advocating for forcing them to follow the Constitution. That's just weak, and that kind of Democratic thinking is what allowed MAGA to rise, take power, and then take power AGAIN!
Too many people do not want violence of any form ever, so they'll just let maga do what they want.
If the rules prohibit something, and they do it anyway, you need to stop them. Much like the paradox of tolerance, the rules are a treaty not a suicide pact.
Being committed to Peace doesn't mean that violence is off the table. It is absolutely last resort, but history often puts humanity in a position of having to defend peaceful people against Monsters who are equally committed to violence and oppression. It's an unfortunate position, but we did not choose this, the Monsters did, and therefore we have to meet them on their terms.
The difference is that if our violence wins, it's over, and Peace is restored. If the Monsters win, they are just getting started.
It's just words on paper if not enforced. And Republicans haven't been keen on enforcing it when it comes to him, not specifically but especially.
Enforcing it is the Democrats' responsibility, but Schmuck Schumer is literally the weakest, most cowardly Democratic leader I've seen in my long lifetime. He is so ineffective, and he has become so wealthy from insider trading, that I am honestly starting to suspect that he is working with the MAGA Nazis, or at least actively unopposing them.
His weakness is a major reason that MAGA was able to rise, get elected, and rise again to get elected AGAIN. He is as reliable to MAGA as any of HitlerPig's trusted henchmen.
If Schmuck Schumer isn't a secret MAGA, he is just the same as one. It's long past time to kick him out.
Ever heard of mutiny? Because that is how you get a mutiny.
Anyone But Trump, 2028
Also, where are the Epstein files?
If we've learned anything from 2024, it's that this won't fly... Sign needs to say "Looking for Unicorn to run for President, otherwise we'll get trump again"
Oh, you must have just been born, or woken up from an 8 year long coma...
Anyway. Donald Trump has become the president... twice, and each time he was running against someone who was notably, not trump.
You should read and try to understand the whole thread before you reply to it, otherwise you'll miss important context.
If there's anything we learned from 2024, it's that we need to all get behind the same person instead of not voting or voting third party instead. The game sucks, but if we don't play it, we lose, and if we don't play it, there's no working towards getting any other systems in place (ranked tier voting or whatever it's called, or any if the other even better systems), and if we son't play it, fascism takes over.
A divided left means the right wins.
inb4 "YoU'rE nOt ThE lEfT" memes - that shit is part of the problem and is allowing fascism to take over, so anyone posting that can fuck off with that unhelpful shit.
The other thing we should learn is that primaries matter. Primaries are where you vote for the person you want, general elections are where you vote against the one you don't.
Please make sure it isn't Newsom.
I wouldn't vote for him in the primary, but if he was the option in the general, I'd vote for him. Compromise is inherent to democracy.
I agree with pragmatism in elections, but experience has shown that centrist liberals are generally not capable of turning around a drift towards the far right, because they buy into the same economic policies and priorities that make people desperate enough to give the fascists an opportunity. At best, electing a liberal puts the brakes on for a while. The only way to turn it around electorally would be to put up candidates who are very clearly working for the people, and to convince voters that these candidates work for their interests while the fascists serve the oligarchs. Liberals will never do this because they work for the wealthy too.
If you're hurtling towards disaster, shouldn't you try the brakes even if you think they aren't going to work? We can't move the United States to the left as long as far right authoritarians are being voted into office. Once some stability is established, we can start working towards more progressive policies. If given the chance between voting for the right and voting for the centrist, I'm going to pick the centrist every time. The only alternative is violence, which is a last resort in my mind (and we're getting awfully fucking close).
no. the game is rigged and it's time to stop playing by the rules until the rules are enforced fairly. if you think you can vote your way out of the fascism you're dead fucking wrong.
Dictator does dictator things, Americans do nothing. News at 11.
Maybe a petition? Or a Facebook page?
Fascists manufacture wars to declare martial law and stay in power.
Just like Nazi Germany, Russia, Isreal
Desperate measures require desperate times.
Meh, just hold one without him. Get an electoral college quorum and move the new guy in because it's 100% state driven and he can't change the constitution. Like an old time papacy schism, let God sort it out.
No, but he's sure proven that he can ignore it. And the Supreme Court will ultimately back him up. And they've already ruled that he can't be charged with anything illegal he does while president (the courts won't even punish him for crimes he was convicted of when not POTUS). And even if they don't rule in his favor he's shown he's willing to ignore the courts when they don't rule in his favor.
If the cops and military side with him- and there is a good chance the majority in both groups are MAGAts, he'll just have people participating in the 'illegal/illegitimate' elections arrested.
If he's still alive in 2028 he will not give up power, I guarantee it.
Police maybe. But, from my anecdotal experience in the military, as an infantryman, so not even officer/better educated MOS, the military is surprisingly nuanced. It’s too big of an organization with too many backgrounds to make a statement like that, if you ask me. Granted, I was in during his first presidency, and a lot could have changed, but, you might be surprised the resistance the military would give.
I hope you are right.
Purely anecdotal but the two younger veterans I know absolutely abhor him and what he's doing.
I'm not saying he'd let it happen, but this is one scenario where the constitution is perfectly clear and it's within the states' authority. They could even ignore the SCOTUS if they wanted, though I think even the SCOTUS would struggle to justify stopping an election.
Oh he’s not giving up power willingly.
So who's he going to invade? Mexico or Canada?
Mexico for sure. It’ll be “to stop the cartels”. Calling it right now.
My money is on Canada.
legal slaveryprison industrial complex.And he's been laying the propaganda and groundwork for months now:
Oh for sure - all the Trunp rhetoric is pretext for war on Canada. Luckily there’s quite a few things Americans don’t know about us - and we’re gonna keep it that way until the last possible minute.
Civil War 2: Election Boogaloo
If he tries to invade Canada, Canada’s gonna party like it’s 1814 and we gonna light up the WH - again.
Mexico, Canada or civil war. Just be as belligerent as possible to everyone and see who takes the bait.
I'll bet in private he's going nuts that no one has so far. "What the hell do I gotta do to these people?!"
Stop assuming he has good intentions. He does not
Oh hey look, it's exactly the thing I was talking about when Trump ran for a second term the first time.
"If Trump wins this election, there won't be any more elections."
That was Musk on Biden of course. Nothing could have been more obviously bullshit. But half of your voters still got taken in by it all.
That’s ok let’s get prepared to stop him 🛑 ✋🏾
Oh just dictator things.
Oh no! Who could have seen this coming! Oh, everyone? Oh ok. And people voted for this? Idiocracy to the max! You get what you ask for. You want an autocrat dictator getting rich from your backs, you'll get it!
Again? He was saying the same thing his first term
He's moving quicker this term, and he has purged most of the people who might oppose him.
9/10 chance trump tries to cite the Ukrainian Constitution, then putin simultaneously tries to de-legitimize Zelenskyy.
Before any tries to use that as an excuse, let me say this: Ukraine has a different history, different circumstances, resulting in a different "social contract", you cannot apply a foreign country's constitution in your own country. Besides, all of their political parties have already agreed to postpone until after the war.
I'm positive that would only apply, if the US was actually invaded and/or occupied by a hostile power. If it's just the US bombing some other country, then why would local politics be affected?
But the US is being invaded by Venezuela...
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/invocation-of-the-alien-enemies-act-regarding-the-invasion-of-the-united-states-by-tren-de-aragua/
This regime does the dumbest shit, but doesn't seem to lack imagination to create fictional justification to throw whatever violent tantrums they think will hurt people they don't like.
He learned from Netanyahu.
20 bucks on Venezuela, 10 on Mexico and another 10 on Panama
They have attack plans drawn out on most countries.
Has been the case for decades. So far it always was a "rather have it and not use it, than the other way around" thing
So far
Even Batman had contingency plans for every member of the Justice League.
Iran, the aerial campaign was a failure.
I think Venezuela is high up, it has oil, and he wants something close to him...Iran is kinda far away.
Indeed, the orange shitstain wanted to invade Venezuela in 2017, but the military disagreed.
Maybe that’s why he’s sucking up to Putin. If/when Trump invades Vzla, Vzla is very much friends with Russia & China out of necessity - if he invades Vzla - Russia might come to Vzla’s aid and poof we have WW3.
Have you seen Russian performance in Ukraine?
I'd like to see them try and support Venezuela.
Russia is obviously allies with Venezuela. They fill the void left by the US. Which is another reason why the US sanctions on Vzla are so completely stupid.
What happened to Greenland and Canada?
We've had one Afghan invasion, yes. But what about second Afghan invasion?
I'm sure he wouldn't mind getting back at NYC too
They probably don't know about second Afghan invasion.
"It's just a joke! Unless..."
This man acting like he’s going to see another election
Moat people around the world were shocked that he got wlected in the forst place. Then even more when they did it again. No one is gonna ve shovked when he stays president
I don't think you understand what I meant
Did he release the Epstein files yet?
We're way past that. He's doing full on fascist takeover
Was this more of a dig at Zelensky then anything?
I hope that’s all it was but with this maniac I doubt it
Wasnt this an onion article yesterday?
Do it. Let’s pop this shit off already.
It worked well for Nathanyahu
Ah, so that whole severed head thing doesn't count, since it was a 'joke' by the same logic.
Americans are a bunch of pussies, Trump knows that. The land of the brave have become the land of the meek and coward.
Stop talking about civil war, just do it or shut up. Americans are pathetic...
They never will. They have a ton of excuses “I have to work, take care of kids, parents” blah blah blah “I can only demonstrate on the weekend”…. Pathetic clown country.
The entire EU is going to mega web surveillance mode "to protect children" and not doing shit about it. We are all a bunch of bitches that take what these parasites give us. Sit the fuck down.
What the fuck are you talking about ? The registration thing about the pornographic site ? Are you kidding me? You are comparing this with Trump licking Putin butt and crushing most of its citizen into slavery and submission ?
In Europe everything gets blocked and capitals get flooded with protestor for less than 0,01% of what Trump is doing.
Wake up, americans are fat, lazy and castrated sheeps spending their times arguing about wokeness or any other nonsense. Nothing compared to Europe.
Exactly. 45% of Americans are morbidly obese. They’re not gonna “go without” or stick their neck out for anything if it disrupts the journey of the next burger into their mouths. Trump is their king and they love it.
No, we do not. I can't help it if half my neighbors are illiterate. Wait until you find out just how many of your hate people who are not just like them. Your time is coming and I wish you the best of luck. It is awful to go through. We are no apathetic just because we can not stand against the most powerful military in the world.
If you see something terrible happening around you and you don’t try to stop it - you are complicit. So if you’re American, you’re complicit in enabling Trump and his crimes.
You know we have protests, right? They are huge but there is no media coverage. The next step is violence. The National Guard is being called in 19 more states. How do you feel about fighting the US military? I am a nerd that has never killed anything. It will not go well for me. I guess we will be in a war soon enough. I wonder will you all still be talking shit when we are forced to kill our own family members in a civil war. Even if the sensible side wins, I don't even know what we would do with the 50% of the population that is illiterate and can not be bothered to understand anyone who is not just like them. Americans are so disappointing. What a bunch of idiots! I wish I could go.
Ofc you can help, you are just too afraid/lazy to take actions. Freedom is never granted, its taken. Every european know this
We will see how that works out for you all when these far right parties start winning. You are not immune.
Even when a normal party gets to power its a hell of a headache for them to govern without triggering nation wide protest. With a far right one it would be worse...
And some european countries already have far right government, like Italy. Is Meloni licking Putin butt or destroying its country or under investigation for pedophilia or corruption? No cause she is not a dictator like Trump.
Even Orban who is the greatest pos of European leader has way more decency than Trump.
That's ok, let's get the police prepared to arrest him 👮
Person 1: I had to steal, my mother is sick! Person 2: Wow maybe I should go stealing things next time my mom is sick too!
Person 1: “I had to speed because I was late to my meeting.” Person 2: “Great, so it’s okay for everyone to break the law whenever they’re running late?”
Person 1: “We postponed our elections because we are at war and under martial law” Person 2: “Cool, I hope my country is at war next election season!”
This kind of retort is called a reductio ad absurdum, and I think you people are missing it because you have such a strong confirmation bias against Trump. The sarcasm is extremely clear. He's pointing out the absurdity behind Zelensky using martial law to postpone elections by using himself as an example, knowing that that would be a problem and that people would see it that way.
The Ukrainian constitution doesn't allow for wartime elections. What are you on about? It's not like Zelenskyy is denying rightful elections like Trump is talking about...
The USA does not have any occupied territories.
Should Ukraine disenfranchise those areas or leave them open to election tampering from Russia?
It's different, and trying to reduce one to the other is the absurd thing.
Are you suggesting that trump is clever and/or witty enough to come up with that on the spot? I find it hard to believe trump would be that clever. And if he was, he would have immediately followed it up with some comment about the "radical democrat [sic] deep state" out to get him.