Mastodawn

People minimizing Orbán’s defeat in #Hungary through voting, and claiming that the same can’t be done to Donald Trump: Remember that Orbán was in power for SIXTEEN YEARS, that is, 2.5× LONGER than Trump. He had more than twice the time Trump has had to intimidate, corrupt, and destroy Hungary’s systems of voting. And yet, voting unseated him.

PLEASE do not preemptively give up on voting. Voting still works in the US, and it is quite likely that our voting infrastructure will far outlive Trump and his destructive party.

Authoritarians rely on a perceived popular mandate to continue their abuse. Voting can decisively deny them that mandate. Do not give up prematurely.

VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.

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Orion Ussner kidder

@drahardja Yes.

And then, once the Democrats are in power, do NOT let them sleep until they prosecute everyone anywhere near the Republican party who aided in Trump's lawbreaking and ban the party itself.

Otherwise, they will just run again in the next election. It's not over until you show them they can't do this again.

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Magnus Ahltorp 1d ago

@OrionKidder @drahardja Yes, every elected person is just a starting point for the activism.

The activism is easier with a better (or less bad) candidate, but it is still the activism that gets you there.

Running a marathon is much easier if you only need to run half of it, without lead weights, and if you only have to avoid a few death squads along the way instead of one every 100 metres. Heck, even half of the death squads would be nice.

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Annie G 1d ago

@OrionKidder @drahardja Exactly. Follow-through is essential. Even better: make sure the Democrats are new ones, and/or DSA. With few exceptions the old ones have failed so badly they shouldn't be let anywhere near the levers of power; their hunger for the corporate teat, and ingrained tendency to appeasement, runs far too deep.

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mike805 1d ago

@OrionKidder @drahardja Have you noticed that Trump promised to prosecute a lot of Democrats going to back to Hillary "You'd be in jail" Clinton in 2016, and did not do it?

The Democrats might go after Trump and his family - they are outsiders and need to be punished for trespassing in the political club - but other club member Republicans are off limits just like club member Democrats were.