Donald Trump vows to lock up political enemies if he returns to White House
Former president tells Glenn Beck he would have ‘no choice’ but to lock up opponents ‘because they’re doing it to us’
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/30/trump-interview-jail-political-opponents-glenn-beckOpen linkView original on kbin.social1192
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We have Project 2025 out there literally announcing the end of democracy should a republican president be voted in. Their plan is to enact Schedule F which allows the prez to kick people from the senate and place his own chosen people there and to allow the prez to essentially take over the whole executive branch of the government.
LIKE GODDAMMIT, THERE'S A DICTATORSHIP UNDER CONSTRUCTION! WHY ISN'T THIS EVEN NEWSWORTHY? WHY DOES THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA SOLELY FOCUS ON THE CLIMATE ASPECT ON PROJECT 2025? IT'S LITERALLY THE PLAN TO END DEMOCRACY! AND OF COURSE LGBTQIA+ PEOPLE!
Thought you were joking but it's holy shit it's real. The heritage foundation even has an article about it.
Yeah I was thinking "what in the tinfoil hat is this guy rambling about"... So I looked it up and holy fuck it is legit the Republicans plan for thier next administration.
Here's a PBS article for anyone that wants to read some info on it:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision
Holy shit. Reality is so crazy lately that it seems more and more made up every year.
It’s fucking clinical, honestly. Like, how are even Republicans down for this shit?
For the last 20 years Fox News and conservative media have been demonizing Democrats as anti-American and disloyal and trying to actively intentionally destroy America. They also are given this propaganda that they’re the real Americans and the only thing left to save the world, so that mindset gives them permission to end democracy to save their way of life.
Delusional. And then I know some of them have just always been republican so they keep voting that way regardless. Like, damn, wake up to the bullshit around you. This isn’t a matter of differing ideologies anymore - this is a matter of fighting for keeping the right to vote about those differing ideologies.
Hello viewers, before we sign off I’d like to remind you that you are the superior human even though you are oppressed and can’t get anything you deserve, and that those other people are idiotic soft weaklings just preparing to take over and destroy us all!
It's the tea party. They infiltrated the Republican party hard core.
If only the left could do the same to the Democratic party...one can dream.
How can the Republican Party infiltrate itself. They're already members of them self. Therefore they cannot infiltrate themselves because they're already part of themselves.
The tea party was complete AstroTurf from the start. Run by well-known Republicans for republicans.
Because they do politics out of spite.
Holy fuck. What. I read through the articles on this and they don't touch on much of what it actually says. Most of it is just quotes. But the guardian has this bit about them dismantling the EPA and, among other things, making it illegal for the EPA to raise emission restrictions.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/27/project-2025-dismantle-us-climate-policy-next-republican-president
At least the end of the world will happen in my lifetime...
Jesus fuck, I’m so glad someone else is panicking about their plans. Not too long ago, I finally realized the whole idea of these shitty laws being enacted in red states is a strategy to chase lefties out so that they control enough states to start a constitutional convention.
We fucking should be panicking, this is insane!!!
Do you realize how many people would have to be in on a conspiracy like that?
It's not really a conspiracy, because groups have been openly advocating for it since like 2009
It's not even something they hide. They run on it.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/politics/gop-spends-big-in-state-level-effort-to-change-u-s-constitution
HOW DID I MISS THAT? DID WE CONSTANTLY IGNORE IT OR SMTH?
Here's the website for a conservative group that pushes for it.
Idk how everyone seems to miss it - it's why Republicans have been angling for such extreme gerrymandering since 2010 and want to dominate state legislatures so much
https://selfgovern.com/
There's no need for formal conspiracies when all of these economic and political elites share the same ideology, which they learned from their environment growing up in similar positions of privilege within the dominant culture.
George Carlin
Dude/dudette, I just want to say thank you for making us aware of this. It's batshit, and it absolutely does need to be blasted on all channels.
Mainstream media wants it to happen and is owned by the very people who designed it.
As bad as Project 2025 looks I couldn't see anything about kicking out senators, "just" federal employees.
Any sources on the more extreme claims?
You kick out the federalist that do things like, investigate overturning elections, and suddenly the midterms are all republican wins.
From there, you have someone who can get power passed to change things like presidential term limits. Now you have a king or an emperor with a bunch of yes men backing him up in decisions. Eventually, they can institute whatever policies they want and force states, by force, to enact what they want with military power and courts who rule in their favor.
Oh, but there are people in the military who will stand up and do what’s right? Well, they will be branded as wackos and enemies of the state who are speaking ill of the totally “legit” election. So they are put in front of a firing squad and all that’s left are those who already believe in Der Fuhrer.
It’s a complete shit show in the making and fucking frightening what they could do with disinformation and no checks.
You're definitely right. I spent a good minute going through the guide but the most nefarious stuff was gaining complete control of the executive branch. This guide is like a first step for a first term. Well brb guys, going to figure how to take over the government with only the executive branch.
Is the army part of the executive? If yes, then... idk, build a shelter, leave, arm yourself or just accept your new overlords.
Theoretically a president could call the army to throw out dissidents. In practice... i think the army is right-leaning but i don't think that they would simply follow through. It depends.
Per section 4 DOD I should be getting some brownie point by providing more goodies to each branch even the space force. I would also be making adjustments to the culture to make sure there's no woke people. Personal army wise I think my best bet will be to use ice since they fall under Homeland security. There was a note somewhere about removing the restrictions of where they can operate.
Don't lie or spread misinformation. The language says they would find ways to BYPASS the senate in some circumstances. Still terrible but disinformation will cause people to not believe the legitimate warnings.
You are correct. Page 168 has the "An Aggressive Approach to Senate-Confirmed Leadership Positions" section, laying out how to bypass senate confirmed positions. Still nothing about kicking members of Congress.
That book they’re selling is like a modern “Mein Kampf.” It’s very interesting because I know quite a few moderate conservatives who wouldn’t ever support the policy proposed in this book, but they are still going to vote red because they believe it will fix the economy.
I was wondering if the actual quote was something more weaselly than that but nope.
Beck: "If you become president will you lock people up?"
Trump: “The answer is you have no choice, because they’re doing it to us.”
Fascists always do the ole ‘he hit me first waah’ gambit. All you can do is ignore it and treat them like the crybabies they are.
Perhaps if someone gives trump a dummy (binky) and rocks him gently we’ll all be able to sleep for a while.
‘It’s okay, you were the bestest president, sleep now, everyone lubs you. Shhh.’
Followed by a brick.
If someone gave him a brickin' early on in life, we wouldn't be here. Just enough to slow home down a little, nothing grave, take a few points off his IQ
He doesn't have a few IQ points to spare!
This sounds very "Robert Evans"-y to me.
I did miss the attribution, my apologies. It is Robert Evans.
Haha, no worries. It just sounded like something he said awhile back or would say and I wasn't sure. It is nice though to see him popping up here though
On the other hand, baby Trump brains splattered over a crib sounds pretty sure fire. If only
That's too old testament for me. Specifically these instances. The author's "explanation" at the end is way off, but it is a good collection otherwise.
It's nice finding another listener. All the Cool Zone Media peeps are great, too
That’s how you split timelines, then before you know it, everyone’s fucking their aunt.
I think you need to spend less time on Pornhub.
It was a DarK reference.
Not sure on the reference, but I'd risk it
DarK.
Thanks! I need to go back to finish the series
100% worth it. And the moment you’re done, you’ll want to watch it again to try and untwist your mind. Best series in ages, imo.
Can the trial get any faster? This is ridiculous...
This dude absolutely cannot get near the white house again.
Vote. And get all your friends, coworkers, and families to vote. That's how we stop this bullshit from happening. And vote at the state and local level too. It actually can make a hell of a difference.
I've voted on stuff that passed by a mere 1,250 votes, and restored bus lines that ran past my house by voting and organizing. It's kind of amazing to see it in action.
So here is the rub. Sit down with a true Trumper sometime, and show them these sorts of quotes. They ARE voting for this. They DO support this. They think this is the right and just thing to do.
Have you tried incessantly asking them why? It probably won't do any good, but it's easier & possibly more fun than entertaining their position with more thought than they may have put into getting to that position.
Asking others and even yourself "why?" when it comes to views is a really good thing to practise, I agree. And don't leave it to just one layer. Ask "why?" after every single explanation and see how deep you or whoever you're asking can get. It's one thing to have a view and a whole another thing to know how you got to that view.
I've gotten out of harmful views by using this technique and realising that the only reason I held some views was because "others told me so", which caused me to look into things more.
Of course this won't work with really stubborn people but it's a good start to make at least some people think.
Yes. They feel it is right in general. Some have some more concrete reasons, but most just seem to feel that way.
“Moderate conservatives” are triggered by rainbows.
“Moderate conservatives” think the only crime is petty crime, and it’s committed only by minorities.
“Moderate conservatives” think basic tenants of feminism are a threat to all of western society.
“Moderate conservatives” think teaching civil rights history should be banned.
“Moderate conservatives” need to die. We will move forward without “Moderate conservatives.”
It's dog shit and helps keep things nice and shitty.
It doesn't have to be that way, haha. If we voted in great enough numbers, you'd overpower the 'mander and could rewrite the rules on how boundaries are drawn, which should be by an independent third party, NOT the parties themselves.
A surprising number of elections (at many levels) gave been decided by a tiny number of votes.
In the United States in 2018, 88 state legislative elections were decided by less than half a percent
Well he campaigned on "lock her up" and despite nearly a dozen investigations and her testifying in front of Congress for 10 hours, guess what happened? Zippity doo daa
I guarantee the person you're responding wants nothing less than to become educated on this topic.
Sure, 39 times, yet no evidence was found of wrongdoing other than business as usual when sensitive into was involved iirc. I've never liked her but you gotta give it to her that she's not exactly the evil that people made her out to be, and in contrast to the rest of these terrible fuckers running the country to the ground
You're thinking of Reagan testifying before Congress about Iran Contra.
It worked for Karl Rove and Dick Cheney when they talked about vote manipulation in 2004.
It was also the only way Spiro Agnew got through his corruption hearing in front of Congress while Nixon tried to do the same for Watergate until the taped conversations were released.
It's a time tested conservative play when confronted by a request to tell the truth: don't lie but deny the allegations. Weirdly, I can't find any time a democrat, Hilary or otherwise, repeated "I don't recall" for their entire testimony. It just seems to be a conservative play.
And how do you think Trump has been handling his questioning?
“You see the mob takes the Fifth”
“If you're innocent, why are you taking the fifth?"
Which is exactly how she beat those 91 felony indictments, right? Oh wait, it's TRUMP that's going to prison. Maybe Hillary will bring him some cookies in the slammer when he becomes someone's butt buddy.
He'll be worshipped by the white supremacists in prison. He won't have an average prison experience.
Initially, maybe, but I suspect they'll soon get over their infatuation with him, since I doubt he'll be able to hide the fact that he considers them beneath him. People only worship Trump from a distance.
Now picturing a shaved headed Trump lifting weights with a swastika on his chest. On brand.
He doesn't work out.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/5/9/15590962/donald-trump-thinks-exercise-will-kill-you
Proof?
His entire campaign in 2016 was 'locking up' Hillary. If he wasn't able to accomplish that in 4 years, what makes him think he can follow through with this promise now that he has numerous enemies on both sides of the aisle?
Nothing short of a full-blown Shutzstaffel will fulfill even a fraction of his current campaign promises.
Playing devil's advocate, the Trump team didn't expect to win and quite frankly had no clue how to pull the levers of power for a large portion of his presidency. If, God forbid, he is reelected that will not be the case. They will know how to play the system much more effectively than they did last time.
If that happens then my grandchildren will be living in nearly the identical series events my grandmother escaped from.
We have learned nothing from our past mistakes.
The Nazis have learned.
Furthermore, they've been bleating about the left doing exactly what he's saying despite it not being the case, so his followers and acolyte will 100% back him when he does it for real. Another Big Lie
They learned some of what didn't work. That does not translate to being able to any better ability to lead a nation. Authoritarians always fail on the fatal flaw of believing their own BS, and sycophants reaffirming that delusion. Kings, Popes, Hitler, Putin, Dear Leader, and now Xi all were inflicted with that delusion.
https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-conservatives-trump-heritage-857eb794e505f1c6710eb03fd5b58981
Haven't most abandoned him and bad mouthed him. It will be new incompetents and deplorables. Some will be the same, but they are the background people.
I wonder if seeing the problems some allies now have seeking alternative employment or opportunities will give them pause. Then I remember they are not great critical thinkers.
The more moderate Republicans stayed away and rightly so. I don't think they will be tempted to rejoin. Luckily, he's got much less chance. His base is shrinking, albeit at a much slower rate than it should. People are more aware of what a terrible person and president he will be. Those paying attentiyalready knew.
He's never believed that he'd be able to lock up anyone other than PoC and migrants. His base bought into it. I don't thing this promise is going to hold nearly the same support as last time. Sure, they'll still love him to death and try to elect him but I don't expect that they'll be so sure that he'll make this happen. But it's a re-run and americans are famous for watching garbage television, so who knows.
Can this dude just have a heart attack already
This is what I'm saying! But Evil lives on forever
I’m convinced Henry Kissinger made a deal with a demon back in the 60s that feeds him the souls of babies to keep him alive.
MF was born in the Weimar Republic. Vietnam was his midlife crisis hobby.
Honest question, but how is Trump still alive? He's in his late seventies, apparently eats McDonalds most days with an ungodly amount of diet coke, and looks like he hasn't exercised since the 80's.
He'll be in his 80's if he gets another term, and given his lifestyle, the stresses of business/politics, and the constant travel, I simply cannot see him continuing. I know Biden is 80, but at least he looks like he's looked at a vegetable or had a brisk walk this year...
Pretty sure a bunch of them live off spite and hatred. My kindest grandparents passed away first, and the meanest one is still somehow kicking.
Evil never dies
I've always said, when he dies, the right wing nutters are going to go fucking BALLiSTIC with conspiracy theories, and De Santis or whoever takes over will fan the flames and accuse Biden or Hillary or whoever the fuck of having him assassinated and shits going to melt down fast.
What else would this douchebag do, really? He had 4 years and the only thing he "accomplished" was tax breaks for the elite.
Of course this tiny petty man will use the power of the office to exact revenge. He's not going to do anything for Americans.
He also "accomplished" making intentional allies a lot less willing to trust the US.
And making the US an international laughing stock any time he spoke.
Great success.
Honestly, I'm glad to see the EU and its constituent countries realize it needs to be able to assert itself without counting fully on the US.
Granted, I don't have to live in the US myself, so… Sorry about that.
I agree. But I'm not from the US either, so that might have something to do with it.
He also accomplished the deaths of millions of Americans during a pandemic
To be fair, a lot of those deaths were inevitable. Trump did not create the anti-vax movement. He just taught it to torture itself with horse dewormer to own the libs.
To be fair and accurate, he lied to the country about the seriousness of the outbreak. He's on recording in Feb 2020 flat-out telling Bob Woodward it's going to be bad, it's much more deadly than the flu. At the same time he's publicly calling it a hoax, that its going to go away, like a miracle.
The people that trusted him didn't take it serious because he told them not to, and then accused everyone taking it serious to be fools or intentionally trying to create a panic and steal their liberties. Had he simply allowed the scientists and the CDC to speak candidly and deferred to them, thousands upon thousands of lives would have been saved.
Oh I don't mean to imply he is not responsible or try to make light of his disastrous incompetence, the absolute shithead definitely got many people killed by insisting the biggest public health crisis in recent memory was no big deal. A solid quarter of the US population to this day still hangs on his every word. I'm just saying that with or without him, a good chunk of people were going to refuse to get vaccinated or practice social distancing no matter what. This undercurrent of contrarian mental illness in America is not new.
And deliberately normalizing that behavior is the issue. Same thing with racism, Trump doesn't create or promote racism, he just normalizes the racist behavior.
Well that goes without saying. These people were always like this, but social norms forced them to be more quiet about it. Career conman and karma Houdini Trump comes along and shows his people that not only can they be be open and proud of their worst qualities, they can get away with their behavior in nearly all cases.
But it doesn't. It needs to be repeated, over and over, by the people we elect to govern
Sadly, you're correct, this is very much not new. That's a political flier from 1955 put out during the height of the red scare and McCarthyism. I'd say conservatives need new material, but it's very clear that the old material is working just as well today as it was 70 years ago.
Hard disagree. He specifically said it would go away in two weeks.
I was looking into this. Obama added roughly 8 trillion dollars to the national debt. Trump added the same amount in half as much time.
While both of these statements are true, Obama did it to get the US out of the recession hole where the previous 8 years of unsecured mortgages and crazy walls street bets from investment banks created endemic risk and failure propagation.
Very different outcomes of the same moneys, specially considering we even turn some profit on sellin the bailed out car companies and once they paid some of these loans.
Yep and Trump, in contrast, managed to give hundreds of billions of dollars directly to criminals and scammers. He made scams great again.
https://time.com/5290474/trump-bank-rollback-dodd-frank/
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/congress-just-approved-bill-dismantle-parts-dodd-frank-banking-rule-n876516
What's old is new again.
This time with more maga.
it's important to understand each of their reasoning:
Obama added to the national debt in order to jumpstart a stalled economy that was deep, DEEEEEEP in the shitter after Bush just noped'out after letting the housing market explode and adding two wars to the bill. Paying all that shit off, PLUS, what was planned to be damned-near-universal-healthcare but became JUST a huge expansion to most people's health benefits (the ACA).
Those are things Obama's admin paid for and we saw actual, tangible returns on. The economy roared back to life. Medical costs and insurance costs went down.
What benefits did we see from Trump's deficit ballooning tax cuts? hmm lemme look here... ah, the report says JACK SHIT.
Unless you're a billionaire.
So yeah, they both added to the national debt but at least most americans received a functioning economy and a chance for healthcare from Obama. Genuinely, Thanks Obama!
They aren't even hiding that they are wanna-be dictators anymore.
And "freedom" loving conservatives just cheer this on.
They "love" America so much, they want to destroy our democracy. The level of hypocrisy amongst the Right is astonishing.
Most of the followers can't see past "we're going to save America from the evil Democrats". It's not as if Fox News or OAN put the fascist behaviors on display. They genuinely believe Trump when he says the Democrats are persecuting him, rather than that the justice system is prosecuting him for crimes - his only "crime" was trying to save America from those evil commie Democrats, after all. They take all the BS at face value because ... tribalism and fear or something?
The only people in the Republican party who actually understand what's happening are the rich and the powerful. Everyone else, the voters especially, are just useful idiots.
They want freedom from accountability, like King Leopold's congo free state.
That sure sounds like a violation of his terms of release in his court cases.
If you're expecting someone to actually enforce consequences on him for this you haven't been paying attention.
I'm kind of worried about that being the case. Not American though, you should probably be more worried if you actually live there.
Being an outside observer I am kind of excited for him to flee the country and attempt to run for president of the United States from somewhere like Russia or North Korea.
Best. Timeline. Ever.
Which part exactly? Him being found guilty, him trying to flee the country, or him continuing to claim victory after fleeing the country?
This timeline is eerily close to a conceivable reality.
I'd love to see them revoke his bail and imprison him for this.
Doesn't this completely violate the terms of his release on bail?
Maybe, but who's going to do anything about it?
So they screech about the justice system being weaponized because they're being tried and prosecuted for their crimes, and then turn around and in the same breath just flat out say they'll weaponize the justice system. Classic case of saying the quiet part out loud.
Project, deny, gaslight, then project again. The GOP maga play book
Gaslight Obstruct Project
Most conservatives, as in all of those not in charge, have issues with empathy; specifically imagining the inner world of any other human being. That's not to say that cannot do this very simple human activity, rather they specifically cannot imagine any other human on the planet thinks any differently or has any other motivations than them. Therefore if they would do something in a situation, then everyone in that situation must be trying to do the thing that they would do.
They believe democrats are weaponizing the justice system, because it's what they would do, and thus they assume anyone that failed to do that before now was simply prevented from doing so -- now that they see 'weaponized' justice happening, they think it's fair game for their guys to do it.
MAGA supporters are far beyond caring whether or not you think they have shame.
If you (in the general sense) don't believe that Trump and his cronies committed crimes, then you would likely believe that the justice system is being used to attack him. If it's being used to attack him, then him doing the same to his opponents is equivalent and fair.
Whether or not you believe he committed crimes is dependent on your news sources, ability to fact check and think critically, and your trust in the justice system.
A very significant portion of the population doesn't believe he committed crimes.
They need to ask ab9ut this during these republican debate/PR events. Do you support tump's call tto arrest his political opponents?" Yes or no,
Stop pretending you can debate fascism away.
If by ‘debate’ you mean ‘execute by hanging’ then you can debate fascists away.
Ummm, that’s not the question you’re hoping it is.
They chanted “lock her up!” at rallies.
The people who still support this man (and it’s a lot of people) would turn against anyone who answered with a no.
That's why they should ask the question. We are either a nation of laws or we are not.
The people being asked the question will not answer in good faith. They are blood thirsty, they are angry, and they want a scapegoat, not a civics lesson.
If those peo0le who are running for president are blood thirsty, we should probably know about it before voting starts.
At this point you can just take it as a given
DeSantis was a lawyer for Gitmo; Trump wanted to execute five innocent black men before he had any political ambitions; Vivek fully embraces the caste system that benefited his family in the past, and has pretty openly suggested he wants to use violence to implement it here. We know the people who are running for president are blood thirsty, they don't hide that in any way. They chose to run on a conservative platform, violence is inherent to the ideology, and on top of that frequently advertise how well they would play the role of violence if elected.
Those 5 black men he wanted executed were between 14 and 16 years old.
He wanted to execute five black and Hispanic children. That’s what he wanted to do. Paid from his own pocket to advertise it too.
I’m not correcting you because I disagree, I just wanted to drive that point home.
Your comment is 100% on point aside from that little error.
I agree with all of this, but unfortunately none of it is framed this way in the media.
The mass media kinda has a "Jews for Hitler" vibe going about it right now, because a lot of Trump's "political enemies" are journalists. They should stop pussyfooting around that fact and stop covering this as a horse race because if he wins he's gonna run his horse right over them first with the rest of us not too far behind.
You can listen to to to them talk at any recorded rally they have. There are interviews with these people. Websites. PACs. Years of history. Television debates are not the only way to know thier thoughts. None of these people appeared out of thin air.
Trump doesn't do debates anymore. He doesn't have to. I think he has saturated his market.
They already asked them if they would support Trump as nominee ( their political rival ) if he was arrested and imprisoned. I think 6 of 8 said “yes”.
Technically 5 of 8 said yes, DeSantis waited to see what everyone else did and then raised his hand as well.
I recall pence also hesitating
Hesitating isn't the same as waiting to make sure you're on the same team as the popular kids.
If anything hesitating puts him marginally above these other bootlicking fascists.
Didn't Ramaswamy basically say he would rule through executive order and ignore the courts and congress?
The language of every abuser and totalitarian ever: "Look at what you made me do."
💀
Once again the Right is accusing the Left of things the Right wants to do.
Pretty sneaky trick really.
Say your enemy is going to do something
Do it
Get told "Hey you're doing X"
Tell them "Projecting much? Everyone knows you're the one who's doing X, I even said so before you accused me of anything!"
Do unto others as your narcissistic brain thinks others are doing on to you.
Apart from the whole dictator thing, they had the presedential power for 4 years and managed to lock up exactly nobody.... Not saying they're not dangerous but why would their base believe them this time, action should really speak louder than words with those simpletons and Trump has been all words.
They didn't lock anybody up, but they DID drain the swamp. And then they put the sludge dredged off the bottom in cabinet positions.
They drained the swamp and refilled it with their own hot piss.
They dumped food pellets into the swamp.
Behind the scenes in Trump's White House
Last time they didn't expect to win and their base wasn't nearly as far down the fascism rabbithole. Now the mask is off, and the GOP knows that magats are more than willing to turn and eat them alive if they try to tap the brakes on the Trump Train. He who rides the tiger can never dismount.
He'll have to find a way to get Congress to approve a bill that eliminates themselves and the judicial branch of government first.
Has nobody on the internet ever read a history book? Who cares what Congress thinks when you have an autocrat jailing his political opponents? It's not relevant anymore.
This. Far too many sympathetic fascist-curious, fascist-adjacent, and outright fascists in the Republican Party (and the police, and the army and the FBI, etc...) that DGAF about institutional norms.
We still have not even gotten to the bottom of their coup attempt - just WHY did they issue stand-down orders for J6? What was Flynn's involvement, as well as his BROTHER'S involvement?
These people thought they were going to get away with it. We already nearly lost our country - these assholes are likely to make sure they don't fail next time.
In order for Donald Trump to become an autocrat, he'd have to dissolve 2 of the 3 branches of government. In order to dissolve the branches of government, he'd need one of the branches of government that he doesn't control to agree to be dissolved. Then the SCOTUS would have to rule on the constitutionality of Congress being eliminated, which, if they're acting ethically (har har) they would immediately halt. He can sign executive orders, but the more EOs a president signs, the more they create tension within the voting population, potentially leading to unrest and if left unchecked, worse.
All of that shit goes out the window when you have an army of racist cops, and potentially the actual US military backing you. I'd like to think they'd shut it down real quick, but enlisted men are overwhelmingly conservative (and Trump supporters) if I recall. There are militias who have been "training" (most of them are probably a joke, but let's not forget what the Bundys did with just a few guys) for decades for a moment like this.
This is what I meant when I mentioned reading history books. This is far from uncharted territory. This is how these things happen historically. We're watching it happen in realtime.
Civil war might be preferable to letting them take power peacefully because it won't stay peaceful. I have no doubt that they'll find people to run death camps if it comes to that, my question is how much will everyone else do to oppose them. If they start arresting journalists, then that's a sign that it's about to get very bad.
By then, it's too late.
He is a dictator... I feel like if we get to that point... Congress agreeing to bills is the least of our problems coming
Agreed.
Trump has a very good chance of making it back, and when he does, everything he did up to and including 1/6 will be validated. We will be an overtly fascist country for at least four years, but likely longer.
Step one is to pack congress with republicans. Mostly with total disregard for the law or morality, as that's Trump's modus operandi.
Won't be hard to do when they don't have to lie about what a shitty president Biden has been for the poor and middle class. He won 2016 because 6,000,000 lost their homes under Obama and he didn't do anything meaningful to stop it.
"I'm mad at president bidenz so I support a fascist dictator taking over to make sure I get revenge on the party I feel wronged me....."
Be gone traitor.
I don't support it, but I'm a Democratic Socialist. You guys elect shitty people and don't listen to us and then inexplicably blame us for your failures.
And I do sorta hate that team color is so important to you and yours that it's going to lead to the US becoming a legit fascist country.
Uh huh.. Yeah, very convincing argument..
I would if the argument being made was madein good faith and not the 'welp nothing we can do cause both sides suck' argument.... Have nuance.. if not, don't spout apologist bs here for the right wing terrorists trying to force us inro fascism
Anytime there's a conversation about trump, fascism, and white supremacists in America, there's always at least one of the "dEmOcrAtS sHoUld HaVE dOnE MoRe" crowd. It's so stupid, I can't help but think it's very intentional misdirection. Like it's some astroturfed bullshit from a conservative think tank.
America is shitty for the poor (there is no middle class anymore). So at this point, if voting for someone who is not a fucking fascist dictator is all we can do, then that's what we're going to do.
Yep, and the GD "liberal media" is not helping when they continue to play this horse race nonsense like the cowardly corporate quislings that they are. They are acting like nothing is really at stake other than which party is running things and that "both sides" are more or less equal.
This is just not true.
True - just like in 2016, they played the "oh my word, some people find Hillary problematic, or too shrill, or too much non-male, and whataboutthoseemails and isn't she over-prepared for debates, and ermagawd she fainted, I tellz ya!" and other stupid and dangerous games.... - they are now doing the "some people" find Biden too old, etc.
Joe Quimby is so weak he allowed Sideshow Bob, a convicted criminal, out of prison. So you should vote for Sideshow Bob!
It isn't all we can do, but it's a pretty good thing to do. It's part of my Diversity of Tactics.
The real question is, how do I know this isn't some kind of misdirection from an even more dangerous opinion for both parties?
What you think is irrelevant. You're just as powerless as the rest of us to stop this.
We voted anti-fascist in 2020. What we got was (depending on where you live) a 30% - 50% cost of living increase, a trillion-plus war spending per year (and we can't know the exact figure because we're funding other countries' wars now too), a national abortion ban, and zero action on housing scarcity on top of it. We got no meaningful action against anyone involved in the January 6th domestic terrorist attack, despite Biden having Congress on top of the presidency. We might be lucky and get one high-profile Proud Boy behind bars, maybe.
This isn't an intentional misdirection. This is reality.
The people we voted for did a shit job, and as we saw in 1930's Germany, no one is going to care if a person is fascist or not if that person is the candidate of change. 2024 is a lost cause, and it's because Democrats didn't do more when we handed them power.
Coat of living going up by ridiculous levels is a global issue, not an exclusively American problem, and certainly not caused exclusively and personally by the current American president.
IMO COL increases were mainly driven by record inflation in housing due to COVID coinciding with record low interest rates. Then there was also the cartel setting the price of gas high to recoup their pandemic belt-tightening, legitimate and illegitimate supply chain issues, and corporate interests hiking prices in order to pad their profit margins as the government cheese shop was starting to close up.
These conditions were somewhat similar no matter which country you live in, and played out in similar ways on a global scale.
Bro, what are you even talking about? Are you lost?
you mean a republican controlled Congress to pack the courts with?
That's why he thinks it's a witch hunt. It's always projection.
I think all the other Republicans use projection. I don't think Trump protects at all and legit believes what he is saying. He thinks everything he did was legal because he believes the presidency is infallible and rules above all else.
You've got it backwards; projection is when you actually believe it. Most Republicans are using accusation in a mirror.
I mean, I believe he will try.
He belongs under a butterfly net.
All that’s missing is him huffing “don’t you know who I am??” While clutching his pearls.
Trump is just a lying little fucking pussy who will never be president ever again.
If you want him to shut the fuck up, send Stormy Daniels over with a magazine to beat his ass.
He will shut up.
You mean piss on him, by all accounts that's his bag baby... Yeah.
Well you see donnie boy being a democrat isn't a criminal offense but trying to overthrow our government to install yourself as a dictator is.
That'd be a neat trick from jail.
I mean Hitler also went to jail for a failed coup. We saw how that turned out.
Hitler wasn't in his late 70s when he went to prison.
He also got prosecuted way faster. Four days after his coup attempt he was arrested.
I don't think he will be in gen pop.
Even if he goes to prison, which if he's convicted there's a good chance he gets something more similar to house arrest due to his position as a former president, he is 100% not going to be in general population. I believe he's guilty and hope that if the trial proves that that he's convicted. But people imagining him in the chow line in an orange jumpsuit are fooling themselves.
Trump could rape a baby on Wall Street on video and he wouldn't go into gen pop.
I mean, if he did hopefully somebody would be nice enough to cap him, but he's not going to go into normal jail like a normal person would under any circumstance.
Yeah he'll 100% be on house arrest. No one's going to throw a former US President in actual jail.
He would. He would absolutely do it.
Fuck. damn it, you're 100% right.
No one expects the trump card.
If there's a spectrum between chow line and house arrest I would've thought he'd be a little closer to the chow line end than kicking back at mar-a-lago.
Like segregation or something? There has to be at least the appearance of "one justice".
If nothing else I'll settle for him officially being barred from holding office.
Appeals will take years, if granted. And I bet he'll find ways or sympathetic judges.
It, at least, cannot be ruled out. A conviction is the end of the first chapter.
Federal appeals are more difficult and more rare. The state charges he'll have an easier time appealing against, though. Lots of questions still up in the air about how all that will go, though. Unless he's barred from office, there's a chance he does become president again, which would make things incredibly complicated. There's also the question of him appealing to the Supreme Court and them simply overturning anything they can that's been brought against him. I find these unlikely, but they're possible. For the USA, this is the first time someone in that high of an office has gone to trial like this, and we're going to be having to make some answers on the spot.
The last thing anyone needs is for that brain dead cheeto to be seen by his supporters as a martyr.
Is it? Is that why he ran against one and won?
Ah sorry I didn't catch you were joking. Sorry about that.
Pretty good though
I wish somebody would push him out of a window already
I would but I'm afraid I cannot without a forklift
That's hot. I see the clowns have blown in for the quadrennial clown show.
Say "Yes absolutely, you giving us those names grants you full immunity." Once he has given those names just send him to jail. He's okay with lying to the public why wouldn't it be fine to lie to him? He has ruined a country when the country needed him.
I see your point but doing that would undermine legal system.
I see it as having your own medicine. "But you can't do that! You're promoting a failing system!"
Okay let's leave him alone? Yes? OR Do you think he didn't undermine the system?
I want him demoralised, I want him to find no value in life. Absolutely nothing.
It's already been undermined
Then we need to backfill it, not knock down the scaffold
Because Americans are better than that. And the country needs a good example, now more than ever.
Glen beck is still alive?
And brainwashing the elderly. Such a slimeball. He peddles fear based on his sponsors and his "books".
Well yeah. That’s what fascists do. Are we surprised?
Jesus Christ...
Just like the Nazis did. Anymore questions about where Trump and the GOP are heading?
Of course it's horrible and fascistic to declare you're planning to use your power to lock up political opponents, as opposed to letting the justice system play out.
...but if appropriate decision makers can prove actual wrongdoing in a court of law, I have no inherent qualms with Donald Trumps political enemies being prosecuted.
I don't think many people are pro-corruption so that's fair, but Trump is insane. He isn't pursuing justice he wants revenge.
Putin: Amateur!
He's a freak of nature.
I'm sure there's more pressing matters for a President to address
He knows he's fucked
Fascist
Stable genius
There's the witch! Let's hunt him!
Fuck around and find out, asshole. By definition, I'm targeted. Let that cheese asshole come to my house and try to lock me up for my beliefs and my use of the 1st amendment.
Like Trump himself is gonna walk up to your house and try to arrest you, tough guy. He wouldn't even know your name. You'd just be another poor schmuck on a list getting their ass dragged off to jail by the cops or the feds. The truly scary part is that if it comes to that, no one would be able to help you. By that point, everyone will be too afraid of what is happening and/or completely powerless to do anything but quietly hope they're not next.
Tell that to the thousands who helped smuggle people out of insanely shitty situations. I think they even made a movie about one...someone's list, mmm it's slipping my tongue.
Yeah, but the story there is that most people didn't get smuggled out.
I know it's anecdotal, but if you read writers of that era, a lot of biographies end up with "and he died in a concentration camp".
Or the poet whose last work was the poem "Forced March". He didn't make it to the camp, died in a ditch.
Most people affected didn't make it out, and most people didn't have the courage to help.
It’s the scariest part about fascism.
Most people won’t lift a finger for you even if you are a civilian being lined up to get shot with your wife and child.
And yet there ARE stories that also end in "they got married and had a giant family and died of old age." To deny these are to deny the survivors and the people who helped.
That should certainly be entertaining. Frankly, I'm surprised he didn't try it last time. But why the half measures? Why not just have all his political opponents shot?
He…. Did try it last time.
He didn’t have all the yes-men in place so it failed, though,
Don't worry. They plan to fix that with the 2025 project.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision
If they win again, they plan to never give up power.
Old man yells at cloud, every day
Fuck him.
They really shouldn't. This is all political theater.
Cool opinion, gayhitler420.
Oh my god! It's Bernie Sanders and he's got a folding chair!
Cage match
Isn't this what the other wing of the American party are threatening to do with him?
I don’t think the law works that way, but let’s just say: Yes. The people who didn’t try to overthrow the government with the help of hillbillies and the Gravy Seals want to lock him up for trying to overthrow the government with the help of hillbillies and the Gravy Seals.
These people who didn't try to overthrow the government are the ones who rigged the last election though right?
Ahhh Gelen Beek, what a fall from HEY I just found this weird wire on my desk, what is this for, OH! We were discussing Mr. Beck, who is NOT a Muppet, or he is legitimate compared to a Muppet as Alex Jones is compared to a Muppet... shit. They're both ineligible substandard non-muppets.