Never seen anything like the U.S. fury and panic

[MsAmerica]

It's really been astonishing how in the last few days, people - mostly of the liberal Democratic party - are staggering with fury and panic over the latest from Trump. It reminds me of the awfulness of his first round, where every morning I would cringe to hear on the radio of a new outrage or scandal.

At present, Trump just nominated for Attorney General, the highest law enforcement office in the country, Matt Gaetz, who, among other crimes, has been under a cloud for sex-trafficking of minors. ("The investigation focused on his alleged involvement with a 17-year-old and whether he had paid for sex or paid for women to travel across state lines for sex, which would violate trafficking laws.")

@KeepinOn

Sometimes the tide is against you, no matter the campaign.

People like Trump are once in a generation politician, i do not believe the Democrats could have ever won against him, no matter the candidate.

He captures people, mainly the thick and the stupid, gets them out and voting...

You might not like that description, but its reality.... i mean, i have just read that the recent storms in Spain, were caused by "cloud seeding" and that climate change is caused by the same sinister forces.... an apparently wide spread belief.

How the fuck do you argue against that?????

@username358 did you mean to say pigs in your post about Chinese ownership of US assets? If so that's the best stat I've heard all day! And how did they calculate it ?

Feel free to pick apart my turn of phrase rather than my actual arguments.

I don't know what else I can add to the thread. I'd encourage anyone reading along to read up on the actual statistics of who voted which way, and why. Pay close attention to swing voters and swing states. I don't think the majority of Americans are stupid, but I do think their options were dire.

@Lonelycrab Well, many of us are pretty angry with the Dems for concealing Biden’s true state of health until the embarrassing first debate. Imagine if Keir Starmer was frail as the election approached and the Labour Party concealed it until he had to participate in a debate- when it became horrifyingly obvious. Would a hastily brought-in substitute have won the election, or would voters mistrust the party?

This election was a shitshow on all sides tbh.

@BruFord while I don’t disagree with much of that, it is of little relevance to what I posted so I’m not sure why you’re tagging me.

Trump and his government in the making is looking like an absolute shop of horrors, with dire consequences for the future not only in the US, but globally too. I suggest you focus on that; rather than try to lay blame on what are now past events.

This is a powerful read from a black American woman:

Really gets into the different groups that support and promote the far right agenda in the USA

www.facebook.com/share/p/19SLAxPTpB/

This is pretty alarming. I asked my doctor for the full schedule of what the kids need in case I need to find a private clinic or something (in the uk if necessary).

@Lonelycrab You mentioned that the Dems will be blamed, that’s the part that I was responding to.

The 2026 midterm elections may easily shift power in the House and Senate anyway.

In 2013 a Chinese company, Shuanghui International, bought Smithfield's Foods valued at $7.1 billion. The Chinese now own one in four American pigs because Smithfield has about a quarter of the U.S. slaughter capacity.

I mean I hope they don't, but this time the people behind Trump (not Trump himself, he doesn't care) have had years to plan how they might get their way and the GOP has shown utter cowardice in terms of not standing up to Trump. And this time he has loyalists around him. I really, truly do hope that existing checks and his and his team's general ineptitude will be enough to stop them 'achieving' much, but I wouldn't bet on it. If they do even a fraction of what they intend, the harms will be immense.

If they do even a fraction of what they intend, the harms will be immense

Absolutely. I think anyone who has voted for Trump or supports him should have a long hard think about where this is leading; this is shaping up to be potentially catastrophic in a great number of ways.

And it hasn’t even started yet.

the GOP has shown utter cowardice in terms of not standing up to Trump

To be fair while this is mostly true, some people (Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney) have sacrificed their career to do so and got nowhere.

He wasn't born in the US so can't run for President, fortunately.

You can say what you like about the flaws of the Democrats, but they've been clear that they will effect an orderly transfer of power and allow democracy (small d) to continue in the US. Trump tried everything to avoid doing the same in 2020, and it begs the question of how likely he is to step aside gracefully, even for someone else from his own party, when his term ends in 2028. What's more important to Americans: the way they are governed for the next four years, or the certainty that they can keep choosing their leaders thereafter? Scaremongering? I hope so, but there's genuine reason to wonder.

It's the end of the world as we know it (REM). How apt, humanity never needed aliens or comets to kill us. We can do it by ourselves. (No exclamation mark required)

Except for the 'and I feel fine' part.

I hope it isn't. Things are alarming but it may work out ok.

He will be 82. And he doesn't eat healthily and go to the gym a lot.

The Defence Secretary is even worse. A TV host with no experience in government and a far right Christian nationalist covered in far right Christian nationalist tattoos.

I think the Dems could have won but it would have to have been a really charismatic, special candidate. Someone who could win over swing voters. Not just another run of the mill senator.

I know she has said repeatedly she’ll never run, but someone like Michelle Obama, maybe. She’s liked by many in the middle and has those mainstream family values that appeal to conservative-leaning voters. She might also have won back some of the disenchanted Dem voters.

Obvs the downside is that she’s black AND female. I think the US is particularly reticent to vote in a woman.

Trump came out of nowhere to become president in 2016 and was popular because he wasn’t part of the political system.

It’s a shame the Dems couldn’t conjure up their own big-name charismatic celebrity to run, one who appeals to the masses and is good at public speaking. That’s all you need really….

I honestly think that someone like that could have won. Trump spouted such unbelievable bollocks most of the time it really doesn’t feel as if it was about real policies. Many voters just wanted someone to stand up and tell them that everything would be ok and that they’d fix it, even if they were patently telling lies.

It’s become even more about popularity rather than politics, coupled with a protest vote against Biden. Kamala never had the right base to beat Trump - they needed a different figurehead to beat him at his own game. Someone with a Trump-style appeal - but just a bit less rapey and corrupt,

I think America reminds me of a film called idiocracy, a story of a futuristic America where idiots breeding ultimately results in fools in power.

I'm afraid it's over, this is the end of democracy in America. It's finished and any election after to his won't be fair and the result will be known by before ballots cast. Trump has every intention of running for a third term or at least making sure the new republican party keeps power forever.

Senior Democrats are preparing for this, they understand what's coming.

Which is why it's over, this is it the end of democracy in America. People were told they were getting freedom, but the truth is that freedom won't exist in 5 years. They are going to turn America into a an extreme right wing dictatorship ...that's been the plan since day one of this campaign.

In viewing the world through intellectually elite theories, the left are alienating swaths of people who would otherwise vote for their policies. I think the right will win, however awful their offer is, so long as this is the left's offer.

Those who have completely swallowed post modernism and critical theory and see the world through this lens, make themselves unelectable. They come across as batshit crazy or as liars to those who aren't familiar with the theories. Most of the public are not interested in the theories (why should they be) and will never buy into the application of them, as they are rubbish theories. Most of the politicians whose thinking is underpinned by them are neither willing nor able to explain and defend their views- because they are irrational and logically indefensible. All they are left with is the underpinning motivation and sentiment. Ironically, many can get behind the motivation and sentiment, and if they dropped the post modern batshittery and talk rationally and reasonably about the issues, I think many people would get behind them.

However positive your intentions, you will never convince the majority that they need to 'check their white privilege' in relation to a black, millionaire, Etonian. Similarly, you won't convince them that a father of 3 can become a woman. Furthermore, if you overlook how your narrative portrays you as a liar and your positioning of those who disagree with you as as unenlightened or bigoted is wholly unjustified and offensive - winning votes will forever be out of your reach.

Debate about the role 'identity politics' and the 'woke mind virus' tend to be polarised and argued from the position of validity of the related political arguments. I think it can be distilled into: If you stand up and deny the truths in front of people's eyes, they will not believe or trust you. Some may go along with you as they believe in your intention, but for many/most, this won't be enough

I think it can be distilled into: If you stand up and deny the truths in front of people's eyes, they will not believe or trust you. Some may go along with you as they believe in your intention, but for many/most, this won't be enough

Thats really funny, Trump was backed by the extreme religious right - who believe the world is 8000 years old and the Geneses creation, anti abortionists, climate change deniers, anti vaxxers and people who believed that Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him and storming the Whitehouse was a great thing to do.

Trump himself supports all of the above, including divine intervention in changing the path of a bullet!!

Yet according to you, its the Left that told the lies.....

Ahhhgggg

It drives me mad when posters just say "they are stupid"

Agree or not they are not all stupid just desperate for change.
Trumps a showman and a charlatan. He craves attention. He will say what he likes and he doesn't care.

But he offers change and that's what the majority want.
When a box of eggs is nearly ten dollars people won't have headspace to care about the trans issues or the fact trump is a misogynist

They need food, shelter, to feel safe in their own town and hope

This will happen here too if Labour can't make big changes quickly

I'm sure of it.

A box of eggs is about $3.50.