An excellent essay by @pluralistic , as always.
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An excellent essay by @pluralistic , as always.
And it underscores an important point for #USPolitics : " #VoteBlue ", in itself, is not a useful strategy for stopping fascism in the USA.
Because it won't do much if those elected Democrats are not afraid of the wrath of the voters each and every time they give in to Trump and the other oligarchs.
If they are not afraid of the voters, a lot of them will just do what they have kept on doing - as their voters for donations while selling out democracy and civil rights to their corporate donors.
True reform in the USA will not come without powerful organization outside of the party apparatuses.
#VoteBlue is what you do in November, when the choice might be down to some stale corporate Democrat versus some Republican fascist.
> Because it won't do much if those elected Democrats are not afraid of the wrath of the voters each and every time they give in to Trump and the other oligarchs.
This is utterly wrong. 2021-2024 we didn't have this shit, and a bunch of corp Dems being in control is why. That made a fucking difference.
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An excellent essay by @pluralistic , as always.
And it underscores an important point for #USPolitics : " #VoteBlue ", in itself, is not a useful strategy for stopping fascism in the USA.
Because it won't do much if those elected Democrats are not afraid of the wrath of the voters each and every time they give in to Trump and the other oligarchs.
If they are not afraid of the voters, a lot of them will just do what they have kept on doing - as their voters for donations while selling out democracy and civil rights to their corporate donors.
True reform in the USA will not come without powerful organization outside of the party apparatuses.
This reminds me of Hamilton Nolan’s “Enemies and Cowards” political framing:
How to Think About Politics Without Wanting to Kill Yourself
There are Enemies, and then there are Cowards.
(www.hamiltonnolan.com)
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#VoteBlue is what you do in November, when the choice might be down to some stale corporate Democrat versus some Republican fascist.
> Because it won't do much if those elected Democrats are not afraid of the wrath of the voters each and every time they give in to Trump and the other oligarchs.
This is utterly wrong. 2021-2024 we didn't have this shit, and a bunch of corp Dems being in control is why. That made a fucking difference.
Corpo Democrats do not prevent fascism, they only delay it. I remember how #DefundThePolice was called for, yet Democrats still expanded police forces, including ICE.
How ICE grew to be the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency
ICE's budget hovered around $10 billion for years. But President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are taking the agency's funding to unprecedented levels.
NPR (www.npr.org)
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This reminds me of Hamilton Nolan’s “Enemies and Cowards” political framing:
How to Think About Politics Without Wanting to Kill Yourself
There are Enemies, and then there are Cowards.
(www.hamiltonnolan.com)
@karawynn @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
I'd also like to be able to think about politics without wanting to kill anyone else tbh
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#VoteBlue is what you do in November, when the choice might be down to some stale corporate Democrat versus some Republican fascist.
> Because it won't do much if those elected Democrats are not afraid of the wrath of the voters each and every time they give in to Trump and the other oligarchs.
This is utterly wrong. 2021-2024 we didn't have this shit, and a bunch of corp Dems being in control is why. That made a fucking difference.
@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
There's an old saying: when people fear their government, that's tyranny. When government's fear the people: that's freedom.
This doesn't mean you should be a violent threat to the government (at least outside of rare and exceptional circumstances: violent revolutions very rarely have good outcomes so are almost never worth the risk), in every normal moment, every politician needs to be extremely afraid he won't be there after the next election.
That's the only way to get good leadership.
And no, corp dems had nothing to with the relatively less damaging Trump 1st term.
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@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
There's an old saying: when people fear their government, that's tyranny. When government's fear the people: that's freedom.
This doesn't mean you should be a violent threat to the government (at least outside of rare and exceptional circumstances: violent revolutions very rarely have good outcomes so are almost never worth the risk), in every normal moment, every politician needs to be extremely afraid he won't be there after the next election.
That's the only way to get good leadership.
And no, corp dems had nothing to with the relatively less damaging Trump 1st term.
@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
I will tell you why the 1st Trump term wasn't as bad: because nobody thought he would win.
The nutjobs had no infrastructure to make his insanity come to fruition. The civil service was filled with people who are employed for skill, not loyalty, who refused to implement outright insane or illegal ideas.It was, overwhelmingly, NON-politicians (let alone corporate ones) that prevented his worst instincts happening.
In 2024 - with the real possiblity of winning there was Project 2025: and it's most important clause: mass firings in the civil service and politicising non-political posts.
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@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
There's an old saying: when people fear their government, that's tyranny. When government's fear the people: that's freedom.
This doesn't mean you should be a violent threat to the government (at least outside of rare and exceptional circumstances: violent revolutions very rarely have good outcomes so are almost never worth the risk), in every normal moment, every politician needs to be extremely afraid he won't be there after the next election.
That's the only way to get good leadership.
And no, corp dems had nothing to with the relatively less damaging Trump 1st term.
@metalpoetnl @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
2021-2024 was not Trump's first term.
Love Europeans, but so many of them know nothing about American politics, or about how to survive with a massive population that is content with racist fascism.
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@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
I will tell you why the 1st Trump term wasn't as bad: because nobody thought he would win.
The nutjobs had no infrastructure to make his insanity come to fruition. The civil service was filled with people who are employed for skill, not loyalty, who refused to implement outright insane or illegal ideas.It was, overwhelmingly, NON-politicians (let alone corporate ones) that prevented his worst instincts happening.
In 2024 - with the real possiblity of winning there was Project 2025: and it's most important clause: mass firings in the civil service and politicising non-political posts.
@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
So this time what's left of the civil service is stuffed entirely with sycophants who happily do whatever Trump wants - regardless if it's sane, sensible or legal.Now you have an EPA that considers profit impacts of regulations but does NOT consider how many lives it would save.
Now you have a labor relations board that is effectively unable to function.
A CFPB that's been basically neutered.This time the craziest of the crazies in America knew he COULD win, and they were ready to provide the infrastructure to support his vision and destroy the infrastructure to oppose it.
That is what is REALLY different.
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Corpo Democrats do not prevent fascism, they only delay it. I remember how #DefundThePolice was called for, yet Democrats still expanded police forces, including ICE.
How ICE grew to be the highest-funded U.S. law enforcement agency
ICE's budget hovered around $10 billion for years. But President Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress are taking the agency's funding to unprecedented levels.
NPR (www.npr.org)
Delay matters. People should vote blue every November. Do you dispute that?
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@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
I will tell you why the 1st Trump term wasn't as bad: because nobody thought he would win.
The nutjobs had no infrastructure to make his insanity come to fruition. The civil service was filled with people who are employed for skill, not loyalty, who refused to implement outright insane or illegal ideas.It was, overwhelmingly, NON-politicians (let alone corporate ones) that prevented his worst instincts happening.
In 2024 - with the real possiblity of winning there was Project 2025: and it's most important clause: mass firings in the civil service and politicising non-political posts.
@metalpoetnl @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
Again, I am not taking about Trump's first administration.
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@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
So this time what's left of the civil service is stuffed entirely with sycophants who happily do whatever Trump wants - regardless if it's sane, sensible or legal.Now you have an EPA that considers profit impacts of regulations but does NOT consider how many lives it would save.
Now you have a labor relations board that is effectively unable to function.
A CFPB that's been basically neutered.This time the craziest of the crazies in America knew he COULD win, and they were ready to provide the infrastructure to support his vision and destroy the infrastructure to oppose it.
That is what is REALLY different.
@metalpoetnl @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
Fuck it, muted.
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@metalpoetnl @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
2021-2024 was not Trump's first term.
Love Europeans, but so many of them know nothing about American politics, or about how to survive with a massive population that is content with racist fascism.
@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
the worst thing Americans do is dismiss political insights from anyone who isn't ALSO an American.Sorry, everything I told you is absolute facts. Stuff that are verifable and testable.
Things that provably happened.If the democrats had hung on to the house or the senate it would have made ZERO difference: The Trump admin has only passed a SINGLE bill !
Just one !
Literally EVERYTHING else he's done has been on ENTIRELY with executive, NOT legislative power and WITHOUT congress getting a say.
The people who COULD stop some of it, who DID stop it before: Elon fired them all in the first month.
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Delay matters. People should vote blue every November. Do you dispute that?
I do not.
But real change must come in the Primaries. Otherwise the USA will simply continue to alternate between "slow-walking fascism" and "speed-running fascism".
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@metalpoetnl @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
2021-2024 was not Trump's first term.
Love Europeans, but so many of them know nothing about American politics, or about how to survive with a massive population that is content with racist fascism.
@jztusk @juergen_hubert @pluralistic
I did misread that, but you know what, that's STILL wrong.
Sure you didn't have "this shit" under Biden, but you STILL had massive suffering.
If you didn't, Trump 2 would never have happened.
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#VoteBlue is what you do in November, when the choice might be down to some stale corporate Democrat versus some Republican fascist.
> Because it won't do much if those elected Democrats are not afraid of the wrath of the voters each and every time they give in to Trump and the other oligarchs.
This is utterly wrong. 2021-2024 we didn't have this shit, and a bunch of corp Dems being in control is why. That made a fucking difference.
2021-2024 we didn’t have this shit
Sure you did. It just wasn’t happening to white folks within your borders, so nobody gave a shit. What you’re seeing now is the face of the US outside of the country, y’all just never had to see it.
This is the face of the US to non-whites, y’all just never cared enough to do something about it.
All that’s happened is that they finally crossed a line that is moved white folks to action. But that’s just a matter of degrees, not types.
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I do not.
But real change must come in the Primaries. Otherwise the USA will simply continue to alternate between "slow-walking fascism" and "speed-running fascism".
Excellent! Do you know how many people there are spouting off against "Vote Blue", didn't vote for Kamala Harris over Trump because "purity", and are still defending that decision? And your slamming "Vote Blue" reinforces their self-sabotaging ideas.
I agree primaries are the strongest place to get better Dems. Plus people need to keep after their elected officials during their terms. ...
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Excellent! Do you know how many people there are spouting off against "Vote Blue", didn't vote for Kamala Harris over Trump because "purity", and are still defending that decision? And your slamming "Vote Blue" reinforces their self-sabotaging ideas.
I agree primaries are the strongest place to get better Dems. Plus people need to keep after their elected officials during their terms. ...
Everyone I know IRL is "vote blue". None of them thinks doing only that is enough.
Elections are all about mass numbers of people. Crapping on "vote blue" without emphasizing that yes, you still need to do that, while you are also doing more - too many people follow that into apathy. It's a bad strategy for fighting fascism.
