OutlierBlue

Opinion: Brace yourselves: whatever crazy, awful things Trump may have done to date, it’s only going to get worse

https://lemmy.ca/post/39923404

Opinion: Brace yourselves: whatever crazy, awful things Trump may have done to date, it’s only going to get worse - Lemmy.ca

If you think things are bad now, then, brace yourself: it is about to get a whole lot worse. If you are alarmed at the speed with which the Trump administration has set about dismantling every institution of American government and every pillar of the international order, you must understand that this is not just the initial burst of activity, the “shock and awe” phase after which things will settle down: if anything, the pace will continue to accelerate. The world has never before been faced with such a threat. The United States has handed the nuclear codes to a madman, a criminal, a would-be dictator and a moron, all in the same person. Whatever the purpose to which he directs these powers – to impress his dictator friends, to further enrich himself and his cronies, to seize absolute power or just to watch the world burn – we must hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Mar 1, 2025 at 7:08pmWeb
Show threadJolly PlatypusMar 1, 2025
This will end with blood in the streets.
Show threadvenoticMar 1, 2025

Yeah but who's? I have a bad feeling it won't be theirs, it'll probably be the vulnerable and the enemies of the MAGA.

The opposition to the MAGA cult can't just sleep for too long on letting them terrorize everyone's livelihoods since they've gotten the backing and enabling of their 'leader'. They won't sleep to upset everyone's lives.

Show threadBlemboTheThirdMar 1, 2025

it’ll probably be the vulnerable and the enemies of the MAGA.

Well, it’s starting with ours. It’ll end with theirs.

Show threadYerboutiMar 3, 2025
Dude, I’m Canadian and I’ve been anti-gun since I’m about 2, and now I’m seriously considering getting one. The world we are in right now as nothing to do with the one we born in, edgy is not what it use to be.
Show threadTigerMar 1, 2025
MAGA are predominantly fatter and older, we can take them!
Show threadmasterofn001Mar 2, 2025

And more hateful and violent. More vengeful and racist. More armed and stockpiled. More members of the police. Etc.

Are there any left wing militias?

The idea they’re all dumb and y’allqaida rednecks is a joke that people have been playing on themselves.

And the punchline is not funny.

Show threadcurbstickleMar 2, 2025
Its more likely to be guerrilla style warfare, at least thats my guess.
Show threadzildjiandrummer1Mar 2, 2025
do you think the left are advertising themselves?
Show threadzildjiandrummer1Mar 2, 2025

Can we just… not? I know this is where everything is headed, and the Republican SCOTUS, Congress, and Executive have been slowly dismantling protections and getting laws in place to make this legal, but there has to be some other way before it gets there.

inb4 “just protest”, they don’t give a shit. A national strike would start to do something but still probably wouldn’t be large enough or last for long enough for them to care.

Show threadMaeveMar 3, 2025
You may be surprised.
Show threadrayyyMar 2, 2025
MAGAs are going to be hit hard with the cost cuttings and job eliminations. Sit back. They are the ones who are violent and they will take that violence to their source of problems when they wise up enough. It may take them awhile to work through the propaganda and bullshit though.
Show threadfutatoriusMar 2, 2025

They are the ones who are violent and they will take that violence to their source of problems when they wise up enough.

They’re as likely to direct that violence at us as against their leadership. They’re authoritarian enablers who want to be abused. Most of them will never wise up.

Show threadAA5BMar 2, 2025
That’s the whole point of starting off with scapegoats. “Ermagod, the transgirl trying to use the bathroom in another state raised the price of eggs”
Show threadvonbaronhansMar 2, 2025

Will they ever wise up though?

Scoreboard shows these people, the most violent among them, are disconnected from reality and blindly trust Trump and his cronies.

I can’t even get my MAGA mom to believe Musk did a Nazi salute. “Apparently he was throwing his heart to the crowd.” Granted, she’s not politically engaged, she just listens to my dad who stopped watching Fox News because it wasn’t conservative enough. So yeah.

Show threadin4apennyMar 2, 2025
MAGA are willing enough to storm the capitol, they’d be easier to convince to “rise up” than any liberal i’ve ever seen.
Show threadvonbaronhansMar 2, 2025
Rise up against whom though? Their violence is not driven on principle. It’s out of trust and loyalty to a con man who told them to “fight like hell”. What makes you think they’ll turn on him? Other than a tiny handful of folks, when have the leapords eating their faces stopped them from offering their faces up on silver platters at the leopard’s feast?
Show threadin4apennyMar 2, 2025
www.forbes.com/consent/ketch/?toURL=https%3A%2F%2…
Show threadvonbaronhansMar 2, 2025

I wouldn’t bet on MAGA suddenly waking up to class conflict to the point of guillotines unless Trump points his grubby little finger at them.

What a world that would be.

Show threadin4apennyMar 2, 2025
If you take reality as evidence, MAGA did more to the point of guillotines than any liberal or leftist has. They brought gallows to the capitol ffs, tell me the last time leftists built gallows and chanted to hang members of the status quo. MAGA are ironically better at antiestablishmentarianism and revolutionary action than leftists are, that’s not a praise for MAGA but a condemnation of leftist inaction.
Show threadvonbaronhansMar 2, 2025
I mean if you want to blame liberals and leftists go on ahead I suppose, thanks for being unhelpful.
Show threadMaeveMar 3, 2025
Some are waking up and getting on board. We struggle with the same issues, assessment of cause and cure are where we differ.
Show threadtabarnaskiMar 1, 2025
The only thing at this point that could prevent the USA from annexing Canada is a civil war to deal with. So yeah, it’s gonna get worse before it gets better.
Show threadOutlierBlueMar 1, 2025

And that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. For the most part Americans are complaining but not willing to actually do anything about the situation.

I’ve heard people say the US couldn’t invade us because it would cause an uprising, but they aren’t willing to stand up and fight for their own democracy. They won’t stand up to fight for ours.

Show threadDrDickHandlerMar 1, 2025
Americans now want to invade and are cheering this on. It’s inevitable.
Show threadXanthobillyMar 1, 2025
Bull fucking shit. Equating a minority of MAGAs that want to invade with most Americans only worsens the problem. Canadians could benefit from recognizing they have plenty of allies in the US and if the federal government chooses to invade our neighbors it’ll spark tremendous outrage and new alliances with Canada from blue states. Just to be crystal clear most Americans do not want this and see Canada as an important ally despite what you see on social media.
Show threadstardustMar 2, 2025

Can it be called a minority when more people voted for trump? And can’t just assume people who didn’t vote wouldn’t support him.

Bigger question is how many Americans not in the military would willingly sign up to fight against Canada, and what would happen if there started being drafts. Even supporters of wars turn out to be cowards when they or their children are actually forced to participate.

So that is likely the scenario that would turn trump supporters against the US and lead to inner conflict and unify both sides of the political spectrum.

Show threadconditional_soupMar 2, 2025
Yeah, IMO war with Canada will be the trigger for kicking off balkanization.
Show threadOutlierBlueMar 1, 2025
Who want to invade and are cheering it on? His followers will agree with anything he does, obviously, but who else?
Show threadfloofloofMar 1, 2025
Once “support our troops” kicks in and Canadians become those people who fight against heroic American soldiers, I fear the majority of the USA will support crushing Canada. A country doesn’t need to have done anything for it to play out this way in the USA. There’s a vast reservoir of “we’re the best in the world” to tap into.
Show threadskulblakaMar 2, 2025

The “support our troops” movement went right into the shitter around the Iraq War. A majority of Americans do not approve of our military operations or expenditure.

And that was when the operations in question were across the entire world almost as physically far from the US as it is possible to be. If the government tries to start a war in our literal backyard you’re going to see a different side of Americans.

I wish you’d see it without having to come to that, but, unfortunately, I do share a lot of your views about our inaction. We’ve never had to deal with something like this before. We don’t know what to do about it. The obvious solution could cause even more problems that we can’t foresee, and would guarantee the complete destruction of whatever hero carries it out. Most people aren’t willing to die for their political beliefs unless they’re backed against the wall. We are very swiftly approaching that wall though.

Show threadQueen HawlSeraMar 2, 2025
American Exceptionalism will be the death of us all
Show threadricecakeMar 1, 2025

We’ve never been in a situation even remotely like this before. A lot of people aren’t sure that doing a coup would be fighting for our democracy because removing them from office would be removing the, as far as any evidence can show, legally elected government. It’s about as bad as it’s been in nearly 200 years, but what if we “destroy the democracy to save it”?

Invading a country that most Americans like more than their federal government is an entirely different question. This current bullshit is disgusting and heartbreaking.

Show threadOutlierBlueMar 1, 2025
At this point, American democracy has already been destroyed.
Show threadSabinStargemMar 2, 2025
The democracy we knew. Whether there is a new one, depends on us.
Show threadOutlierBlueMar 2, 2025
It always has.
Show threadAzalMar 1, 2025

Last time we had anything remotely close to this was 160 years ago. And this time the sane ones would be the ones going against the federal government.

It’s… we’re in the unknown as a country.

Show threadvaultdweller013Mar 2, 2025

Also doing an uprising or outright causing regional sessions would be a lot more devastating if the US is already at war with someone else. It’d cause chaos in everything from logistics to the chain of command, that’s not even getting into how it’d fuck up all asset control.

Just to use an example say the Trump declared war on Canada next week and only California declares secession. That alone would fuck up so much more on all sides than just California declaring independence.

As you said we’re in uncharted waters and it’s best to play it safe, any actions not carefully considered could even strengthen Trump’s position.

Show threadfloofloofMar 1, 2025
archive.is/Ky9mH
Show threadOutlierBlueMar 1, 2025
Added to the post. Thanks.
Show threadTropicalDingdongMar 1, 2025
Show threadAmidFurorMar 1, 2025
Damn those Democrats! They did this to us by not making more of us voted for them.
Show threadconditional_soupMar 2, 2025
Yeah! This is bullshit, we shouldn’t ever have to try or promise anything meaningful! They should just shut up, quit asking us to work, and pay us for every melodramatic fundraising text we send!
Show threadAmidFurorMar 2, 2025
Imagine saying the texts were melodramatic in the same thread we're complaining about what happened when a plurality voted Trump.
Show threadconditional_soupMar 2, 2025
Bro, have you seen these fucking texts? It’s not “Trump is going to dismantle democracy, and we need your money to do x to stop him”, it’s “GOODBYE MEDICAID! WE TRIED TO SAVE YOU BUT THE REPUBLICANS BULLIED US TILL WE CAME. IF ONLY WE HAD MORE MONEY :(”
Show threadAmidFurorMar 2, 2025
And what is happening to Medicaid now?
Show threadconditional_soupMar 2, 2025
Look, all I’m saying is that I’d actually consider giving a little money to the democrats if they weren’t just treating this as a business as usual fundraising opportunity.
Show threadCosmic ClericMar 1, 2025
Paywalled.
Show threadReallyActuallyFrankensteinMar 1, 2025
No no no no…we just need to run out the clock - it must be almost time for another election. Let me just check the calenda-… …SIX WEEKS? It’s been six weeks?!
Show threadOutlierBlueMar 1, 2025

Yeah, in 6 weeks we went from being allies, strong trading partners, and friends to honestly fearing an impending invasion. SIX WEEKS

Imagine what the next 6 will bring.

Show threadMcLarnyMar 1, 2025

The american people will have to stand up for themselves and it‘s gonna be hard and brutal. Cause no one else can help you with this.

I found the recent developments in Serbia quite interesting and it might help to get an idea what a widespread resistance from the people could look like. Video on Serbia

Are Serbia’s student protests a tipping point? | ARTE Europe Weekly

YouTube
Show threadSkilurosMar 1, 2025

It’s going to require daily nationwide protests going on for months and months with national participation approaching 1-2% of the population (4-8 million) on weekends and clear and actionable demands (resignation of Trump and his goons and corrupt members of the judiciary).

From my experience living in the US, I don’t think this is likely (I do hope I am wrong). Geographic size can actually be managed by having many thousands of protest sites by key admin buildings all throughout the country. The bigger issue is perhaps a lack of experience “operationalizing” beliefs and standing up to a thugs and oligarchs.

Show threadTransplantedSconieMar 1, 2025
When the Second Great Depression starts, that’s when shit will hit the fan. Once the bread and circuses end and the starving begins.
Show threadvaultdweller013Mar 1, 2025
I wonder if the European bars will have little “For the Cause” jars similar to how Celtic owned businesss has them to support the IRA here in the US.
Show threadCorkyskogMar 1, 2025
It could be like months away too based off them wanting to cut like a million fed jobs and dump a shitload of commercial real estate onto the market.
Show threadTransplantedSconieMar 2, 2025

And unlike the first one, we now have 3 guns per person in the US.

This is gonna be some bad juju ahead.

Show threadaaronMar 1, 2025

The process of global de-dollarisation,much talked about, is being hastened far sooner than I think most people (at least those not privvy to whatever intelligence existed on Trump and others’ motivations and intentions) expected.

The question as to whether the country with the largest military in the world can accept a much-reduced international role (and much reduced share of unearned global wealth to go with it), without kicking off a kinetic world war three will likely be answered shortly.

Trump and Musk appear wide open to exploitation/manipulation without anywhere near the required experience or intelligence to maintain the US’s international position.

Unstable times ahead.

Show threadTowerMar 1, 2025

The chuds at the top (most of them, anyways) know that this will likely lead to ww3, and that’s been the plan. The US is the preeminent military power, so they feel safe, and there’s a shit load of money to be made in war and instability.

The chuds at the bottom voting for US isolationism don’t understand just how much an interconnected world benefits them and how bad dedollarization is going to be for them. But then that goes along with a lot of people not understanding the benefits of concepts like soft power, humanitarian aid, foreign assistance, etc.

Show threaddhorkMar 1, 2025
The chuds at the bottom are rooting for dedollarization, because they put all their life savings into $TRUMP
Show threadAA5BMar 2, 2025
Are they already that stupid? Maybe I give everyone be too much credit but I assumed the ones putting money into $TRUMP are wealthy people playing the patsy to launder bribes
Show threadMaeveMar 3, 2025
Well money laundering just became defacto legal so good times. /S