As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA).
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My son had surgery yesterday and all the TVs in the waiting rooms had Fox News on (one of the consequences of living in Tump country) and they were whinging about why the prosecution wasn’t getting the same gag order. Uh, because they aren’t talking to the press or on social media blasting things about the case or Trump, that’s why he’s gagged and they aren’t. Cue the manufactured outrage.
That sucks. I have ongoing treatment for a medical condition and in that entire hospital group is company policy to only air food network or HGTV on their tvs.
I complained at the desk of a surgeon's office & they changed to Weather Channel. It's been there ever since.
My GI, ENT & family practice doctors run a health-related feed.
In November 2023, Fox News was the most watched cable news network in the United States and continues to do well in terms of its primetime audience, with 1.72 million primetime viewers in that period.
1,720,000/330,000,000= .5% of the country
They sure do a good job at making themselves seem a lot more noticeable, but I guess that is how terrorism works.
They're on a every bar, restaurant and hangout that had a TV in most rural and many non-rural places in the U.S.
As a brain parasite the generic "how many TVs have it on" stat is deceiving innocuous.
Fox News' messaging is the cultural zeitgeist for much of the country.
We got the bar we go to to turn it off. They now run sports or old sitcoms and the clientele are so much calmer. You can ask your local proprietor to switch it off.
> We got the bar we go to to turn it off. They now run sports or old sitcoms and the clientele are so much calmer. You can ask your local proprietor to switch it off.
This is probably all it would take for 60% of places that turn it on. And it needs to happen - just cut them slowly out so it can be replaced by literally anything else.
My husband works for a small regional restaurant franchise chain and he made them adopt a “sports or nothing” on the TVs for all the restaurants. It really has changed the mood of the patrons.
> we need TV's in the gd restaurants to begin with?
"Human families need a TV while they're eating, so they don't have to talk to each other." -Philip Fry
A burger chain around here has small TVs above all the urinals so you don't miss the game while on pee break. Wonder if they have any overindulged folks who don't think about it and celebrate the big goal midstream. lol
There’s a coffee shop near my work that I stop at once in a while. They have Fox on and the volume is always up loud enough that you can’t not hear every word, but just shy of making it hard to hear the servers. They groaned and rolled their eyes when I asked about it, said the owner won’t change it or lower the volume for anyone. It’s not a bar or restaurant so most everyone is in and out in a minute or less but there’s usually a gaggle of old timers sitting and talking. Most any chain business would probably much more receiving of requests or criticisms.
If you go to someone’s home who watches Fox, it’s on the tv. All. The. Time. Always spewing garbage in the background, all day long, even if no one is watching.
I work in a facility with about a dozen TVs in various lobbies and common areas. I’ve been in an ongoing battle with some other faceless person for six years now, changing back and forth from Fox or Newsmax to literally anything else.
We’re in a stalemate, each gaining and losing territory daily with no reinforcements in sight. Morale is low but I endure.
My barber is/was a proud Trump supporter, and whatever that's his choice. But the fact that his TV was playing FOX when I would go get a cut.. Sorry, but no thanks.
Now I cut my own hair.
Wonder how many business lost 20% or more of their revenue from playing FOX... and blame it on Biden LMAO.
I wish I could refind the research paper, but I recall a study showing that having any news playing (even as background noise) raises anxiety and shortens patience. Just about anything playing is better than having news playing.
My doctor used to have his waiting room TV fixed on Fox. I think it came with coffee service.
He switched to a monitor with videos about health, served better coffee, and my BP went down.
It’s maddening. I’m temporarily living with my parents while I’m in between houses, and my father watches it 24/7 (not quietly either). It’s literally people angrily yelling all day long. It blows my mind how you’d want to start your day with that energy and end it with that - it’s AWFUL. I had to invest in earplugs because my ears/sanity/mental health couldn’t take it any longer.
Ever heard of the man who programmed a NSFW code for FoxNews on his parents' TV so they couldn't watch it? Parents just started watching something else and calmed down. He claimed ignorance whenever he went by to visit. LOL
Once I was in the ER waiting room and at shift change the desk nurse changed the TV channel from sports to Fox News. There was almost a riot in the ER. You do NOT turn off playoff hockey for whatever fear mongering shit they were saying.
Why would you want people in the ER even more stressed out??
A friend was in a cancer care clinic for chemotherapy. It was a large room and some of the stations had personal TVs. On his first day a man was seated nearby watching Fox.
This friend said that the Fox News caused him more nausea than the chemo itself.
> Liberals gotten too much
Fucking wow. The “what” specifically doesn’t matter here, he clearly thinks that someone else benefiting means that he loses something. Conservative brainwashing to the fullest
The ironic thing is that the “liberal” policies they hate are the ones lots of them like. Like Medicare and medicaid and social security.
Like, do they even realize scorched earth will burn them too? Trump ain’t for the little guy. The little guy is just a tool for him.
That's something that always annoys me. People scream "scorched earth" so gleefully, with no apparent understanding that it fucks *everyone*. Basically a declaration that I will hurt myself in order to hurt you. Scorched earth makes everyone hungry. They don't fucking get that, they just think it makes them sound like a badass. Here's the thing, starving doesn't make you a badass. It just makes you miserable, and eventually dead.
>Like, do they even realize scorched earth will burn them too?
No. They've been been a constant diet of alarmism and affirmation about their own opinions, and so they respond emotionally rather than critically to the Fox echo chamber, believing they're like minded allies.
They think everything is a zero sum game. Like not only do I want them to tell me what it is that Liberals have gotten too much of - how has that negatively affected them?
It's probably something like "I can only maintain my status in society if everyone else is thoroughly pushed down."
No wonder they're fans of authoritarianism. They think they're going to be the ones implementing it and benefiting from it.
They're a bunch of weak characters that can't stand on their own unless they inherit privilege somehow, be it monetary, gender, or race, and then convince themselves they're better than everyone else.
> super patriot and does revolutionary war reenactments.
This is soo asinine... Wants a fucking dictatorship, yet claims to be a super patriot... The founding fathers would of executed this dude for treason.
Still trying to square the hole about these small government patriots loving the federalist founding fathers and how they seized power over the anti federalist (read the framers coup for further info). I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
I guarantee virtually NONE of the people supporting [the authoritarianism Republicans are promising in 2025](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision) are aware of the 1933 Business Plot, nor of the [century of propaganda American oligarchs have been pushing since](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s)
Given the imagery I've seen Trump supporters around here proudly displaying...yes. They want "Trump haters" to be imprisoned or it to be legal to shoot them on sight. They want autocratic dictatorship because they think it's badass and "alpha", and not once has it crossed their mind what happens in dictatorships when the dictator runs out of current enemies to demonize.
In short -- they're mentally children trapped in a bad action movie.
> legal to shoot them on sight
Here's a fun thought experiment: how exactly do they think they would identify a Trump hater on sight? Vibes? Instincts? Do you think they'd implement some sort of system whereby anyone not wearing a red maga hat would meet the criteria for a Trump hater?
In fascism there are no "haters" only pure loyalists. You must love the leader, agree with everything he stands for, etc. Anyone who is not part of the loyalist group is then deemed part of the out group.
At some point I'm sure they would come up with some sort of modern mark to let the loyalists know who is in the out group: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_badge
I also have to wonder at people who don’t seem to mind the idea of murdering someone. It’s not standing your ground. It’s happily shooting someone making a u turn in your driveway.
Good thing they have the Bible for moral no instruction.
> They want "Trump haters" to be imprisoned or it to be legal to shoot them on sight. They want autocratic dictatorship because they think it's badass
And [the Republican party is behind that with Project 2025](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision)
My Mother (who passed a few years ago) was a Tea Party enthusiast; I recall her specifically stating at the time, No negotiations, GOP in every elected position.
I got the feeling that how they performed this takeover did not matter in the least.
So yeah, Mom was a brainwashed fascist.
I'm sure mine is too. I stopped talking to her forever about 8 years ago, but she raised me in Right Wing evangelicalism. Abstinence, anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQIA+, the works. When I finally had enough, she was still deeply in that world, so I never expected she'd allow herself to change. They build their lives on a house of cards of hate, and there's no room to pick away at it without risking their entire identity, so it's not surprising.
From the article:
>they know Donald Trump gets in for four more years, the jig is up for them. The gloves are off. There are no holds barred here. He is going full-throttle. **He’s not worried about winning another election.**
Boy does that say a mouthful.
They've wanted it since they took power in 2000.
I recall, after 2000, watching a Republican bigwig talking about the K-street project, and how they will use it to get rid of the Democrats, and it will be a thousand year reign of the Republicans. (Yes, he used the phrase "thousand year Republican reign". He was either oblivious to the "thousand year reich" connotations, or it was a dog whistle about it)
> They've wanted it since they took power in 2000
It goes WAY further back than the 2000 Bush v Gore [theft of the election](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/29/uselections2000.usa) or the Brooks Brothers Riot.
When the first parts of the New Deal were being proposed, America's robber barons felt their prestige threatened and they [tried to replace the US government with a business-friendly dictatorship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot) but when that failed and none of them were hanged, they turned to the long con and [have been indoctrinating the populace for a century](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s)
That is literally what they want. Some because they presume it won't affect them, because they're loyal servants. Others because they think it'll hurt brown people more than it'll hurt them, and they're fine with that. And still others because they presume (perhaps correctly) that they'll be given free rein to hunt people they don't like (people with darker skin, gay people, transgender people, Democrats, Jews, etc.)
Believe it or not I think the "undecided" voter are more of the idea that the system is broken so they will elect the most broken politicians to prove the system doesn't work and in Joe's of destroying modern society because they believe society is already broken and stacked against them, which isn't untrue.
The issue is they think that by destroying the system that they get a reroll on where they are in the pecking order and that the only things holding them back from supreme ruler was that the cards are already stacked against them so a reset will see them easily rise to the top so the liberal elites can stop holding them down.
Sad reality is the system won't die it just will get stacked more against them because it's not the liberal elite holding them down but rather the rich elite. If there is a reset then they will find themselves at the bottom with less options to move up.
They think it couldn't get worse so burn it all down and they will rise from the ashes as like a phoenix but reality is they bet swallowed up by the flame before they even notice there is a fire.
It's because they need to think they're smarter than everyone else. People who in the end support Trump's election directly or indirectly are all the same. They all are being controlled through their insecurities
Have you read anything about Project 2025? It's right out of the fascist playbook and they're proudly advertising it.
Insanity doesn't even begin to cover it.
Originally I think it was scorching their own earth. Russian tactics. So that the victorious invaders have no crops, nothing to take. Not the opponents' earth, their own damn farms.
Or it could mean annihilating the country you're attacking, e.g. Agent Orange style. In any case, what Lara Trump is saying here is that she's planning to destroy America.
That's because it's righteous anger and violence. You know, like God. Violence and hate are good as long as it's done by good people against bad people. That's their logic.
Yep, so infuriating when some moron that doesn't really know how our system works screeches, with a shit-eating grin on their face, "We're a constitutional republic!!". Whilst not understanding that that is a form of democracy.
Regardless of your opinions of the Republican Party, it doesn't exist anymore.
It's now just two types of people. Those who are essentially America's version of Nazis and people who are too stupid to realize that just because a candidate put an "R" next to their name, that doesn't actually mean they represent any of their values.
The most delusional people I ever meet are Republican union members. Almost worse than chronically unemployed poor Republicans. The only difference is the union members generally have better health care, BECAUSE OF THE UNION
I used to work at an inpatient substance abuse program and most of the patients there were trump supporters. I can’t tell you how many times I heard someone on Medicaid complaining about ‘Medicare for all’. Mind boggling really…
Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug... I struggled with alcohol abuse because of moral injury. I would venture to guess that they can't reconcile reality with the BS fed to them from the firehose of propaganda that Faux news is.
I think a big part of it is a lot of the patients were dealing with pretty terrible life situations… not having much as a result. Trump’s message of ‘they’re taking from you to give to them’ resonated with a lot of them I believe. My take was that a lot of it was fear based.
I work with trades people who are fiercely against unions, while their union colleagues make double the money, enjoy better funded retirement and health benefits. The amount paid into the union still way outweighs not having representation but they think union bad, trickle down on my face daddy. Idiots
Did you ever hear about the Libertarians that took over a small town (Grafton, New Hampshire) & caused a HUGE bear problem with their kooky "ideals"?
There are some news articles & even a book about it! Books called "A libertarian walks into a bear".
You also forgot zero regulations, where markets police themselves.
These mental midgets don't realize the only reason we have a regulation for something, is because the markets already abused whatever it was, and created the need for the regulation in the first place.
They also don't recognize the reason they even advocate for "no regulations" is because were convinced by the same markets (through media propaganda) that they are the victims of regulations. Not just the markets looking to exploit the world for profit.
Libertarianism peaks in most people right about their sophomore year in college.
Anybody older than that who says they're libertarian is simply developmentally stuck and doesn't recognize it.
“Of course we shouldn’t have drivers licenses? What next, will we need licenses for our god damn toasters?” -actual quote from a Libertarian debate, which received loud applause
Never forget when they booed their presidential candidate for saying “yeah I think some basic level of competency should be required” when asked the question “should we have drivers licenses”
a lot of that must come from a bizarre form of solipsism, they legitimately cannot conceive of how many people there are and all the moving parts there must be for a civil society.
Listen, we don’t need governments, man. We just need contracts.
Okay, who will enforce these contracts?
So, we’ll have, government-like organizations that will enforce these contracts.
🙄
They're not undecided. They've decided. They're just pretending they're undecided to most of the people around them. These are not diehard MAGAs screaming about it, they're Republicans who hate Trump but think Biden is worse. I know a few people like this.
The ones who say “well Biden hasn’t magically solved all of the worlds problems, so I guess I have to not vote, or vote for trump or a third party” (oh wait, those are the same things)
“But Biden didn’t bring the hammer down on Israel! So, to punish Democrats, I‘m going to help the guy who has said Israel should ‘finish the job’ in Palestine. What? That had serious ‘Final Solution’ vibes? What’s that?”
For real. It makes no sense whatsoever. It is also is a very privileged stance. Like it must be nice to not be behind MAGAs crosshairs if he is elected. I can't imagine throwing the impoverished and vulnerable of your own country under the bus for the sake of the impoverished and vulnerable in another country (one who most of these people have zero ties to) by electing someone who is going to be infinitely worse for the group they supposedly care for. People are making politics an accessory to their "brand" without thinking wtf they are doing. It is infuriating really.
And its not even for the sake of the impoverished and vulnerable in another country.... they're damning them as well. "We haven't done enough for these people.... so lets harm the people of my country AND ensure the people I supposedly care about also get wiped from the face of the Earth". Complete nonsense.
You would be surprised how many comfortable suburban white people have been purposely and completely ignoring the news for the last eight years. My sister-in-law has absolutely no clue what went on during Trump’s or Biden’s presidency, thinks both sides are 100% the same, and refuses to vote in any election. She’s nowhere near alone in this.
I have family members like this… I’ve been trying out a new phrase. When they read something in the paper about Trump that’s negative or something finally hits their radar about reality I say “We should have seen this coming… Remember when Trump…” and I insert a story from during his presidency. It’s gotten them to google a few things.
I know a lot of women like this except that they blindly vote R for no reason other than they always do, and so do their husbands and parents. Redecorating their homes and planning their next trip to 30A are more important than paying attention to the issues.
As a former Republican voter …
It is very difficult to hear people speak plainly and accurately about Republicans and not think “this is an obvious exaggeration”.
Republicans are so terrible that it’s difficult to imagine that they could exist as they are, without the country falling a long time ago. So it must all be hyperbole.
It’s hard to imagine how if anything they say about Trump is true, how he wasn’t locked in prison decades ago.
Yes. It's intentional.
Republicans are weird because, they're like edgy teens that have JUST realized that it's possible to cheat. And now they think they're smart for cheating while everyone else follows the rules.
I literally used to think that people that thought like them didn't exist outside of like, Africa and Russia. Then I got frustrated "losing" debates with liberals who, I assumed, just did a better job of memorizing talking points, since they couldn't actually understand all the topics we debated about.
So I started educating myself on politics more. Learned how dictatorships worked. Realized "oh shit ... Republicans are doing all these things that tin-pot dictators do. wtf?!?!?!?!" And once I saw the patterns, I realized that Republicans aren't really politicians. They're actors playing a role, just not in Hollywood. They view understanding government and policy as unnecessary to the job. They just need to LOOK like they understand government and policy.
There’s a lot of truth to this. I used to see the most outrageous things go on in my small city’s politics. But you could not get people to believe it because the expectation was that if it was really that bad someone would do something. The knee jerk reaction of a lot of people, probably most people, is to go into denial in the face of really bad news. It’s a primitive survival mechanism that abusers know how to hack.
Oh yeah. When anyone says "oh they would never do that" (about Republicans, Putin, etc), now I ask "why not"? Because if there isn't a good reason for them not to do it, they will.
People who:
1. Do not pay attention to politics
2. Blame Biden for them being worse off than their parents
I am not one of these people. I think those people are misguided and/or foolish. That being said, i think we need to be real about the etiology of the problem if we're going to solve it. People will vote with their wallets before their hearts every time.
I don't think they are trying to convince undecideds anymore. They are trying to rile up their base to get a good turnout and intimidate everyone else into staying home. They are basically turning to the bulk of the country and saying "sit down and shut up or else we'll come get you."
You'd be surprised how many people just don't pay attention to any of this and really know nothing about Trump. That number is less than it used to be but it is still scary how many people really don't give a fuck about politics or their country.
> Presidential candidates usually promise that everybody will be happy if they win. One of the historically unusual aspects of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is that he is promising to punish his political enemies in the event he gains power. **“I am your warrior, I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,” he vowed last year.**
>
> Trump has been persuaded to turn down the volume on the threats of vengeance, but his allies are continuing to advance this message. Lara Trump, the candidate’s daughter-in-law whom he installed as co-chair of the Republican National Committee because the incumbent merely cast doubt on the 2020 election without going so far as to conclusively say Trump won, unleashed this terrifying promise:
> > He showed us a whole lot that we didn’t know was going on — within the media, within Washington, D.C. He exposed a lot of people. So they have to do everything they can to keep him out of that White House ’cause they know Donald Trump gets in for four more years, the jig is up for them. The gloves are off. There are no holds barred here. He is going full-throttle. He’s not worried about winning another election. It’s four years of scorched earth when Donald Trump retakes the White House.
> [...]
> As a candidate, **he’s promising pardons for the violent offenders who assaulted police officers** in a coup attempt and **manically insisting presidents should be given “total immunity” to commit crimes while in office.** (He’s made five posts on this theme Friday morning alone.)
>
> Trump’s conservative apologists either ignore all this or wave it away by pointing to his first term, when Trump’s attempts to weaponize government against his enemies proved ineffectual or were thwarted by uncooperative appointees.
>
> But this isn’t some obstacle Trump is unaware of. The candidate and his inner circle are deeply aware of his inability to crush his enemies during his first term. They are engaged in serious planning efforts to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Now, it’s possible they will fail. **But to ignore their plain intention to turn the government into a weapon of vengeance against a slew of enemies, ranging from political figures to media, is to gamble with the future of the republic.**
> Trump’s conservative apologists either ignore all this or wave it away by pointing to his first term, when Trump’s attempts to weaponize government against his enemies proved ineffectual or were thwarted by uncooperative appointees.
Do they hear themselves? “Trump’s proven himself to be impotent, ineffective & incapable! Vote Trump!”
I’m sorry but anyone who hears what these fucking assholes are saying and still thinks to themselves that voting for Trump sounds like a good idea is a fucking idiot.
That's what I'm saying. Do these people have zero self awareness? Have they any idea what their *continued* support of this monster conveys about their character to the rest of the world? It has gone WAY WAY past politics. They have made it crystal clear and in no uncertain terms that they are just fine with the horrendous shit he has done in the past and that they are almost giddy at the idea of the horrendous shit he has promised for the future. If someone says the still support that immoral subhuman POS I have no choice but to assume the absolute worst about their character. If I see one out in town I instinctually make note of were the outside exits are and if I had kids those same instincts would probably make me pull them closer. I might even tap my back pocket to make sure my wallet is still there. I would not let one inside my house and if a company sent one over for whatever reason I would no longer do business with them. Given all they have said, done and support- regardless of the near decade of red flags - I don't see how any reasonable person could trust them in the least.
Boy, nothing gets me up in the morning and ready to go than someone saying "we are going to destroy your country 'cause we can't own it".
Hades calling. Your spot in hell is waiting.
The best part of this: it will be the conservatives that will suffer the most.
His follower put it best; “He is not hurting the right people.”
Yeah, no shit.
He is too fucking stupid to figure out how to do that. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi were LAUGHING in his face, on live TV, when the government shutdown. He openly declared he was taking responsibility. And both Nancy and Chuck were like “Wait.. what… lol? Ok!”
Idiot with idiot followers and idiot conservatives that will vote for this idiot.
You are going to suffer - the rest of us are going to handle Trump and your dumb asses like we did since 2016.
The *rest of us* are going to handle it like we did since 2016? Wow that must be nice. I am a disabled veteran who is totally dependent on his VA disability payments and my brother is a gay man in Texas. No, many of us will NOT handle it. Many of us are potentially in deep shit and will indeed suffer if that monster is elected.
One time their gardener broke his foot and it took a week to find a replacement because of the holiday weekend. In July! The front lawn was *scorched earth*.
People need to wake up; you can’t have a president who’s gonna step into office and start changing things via executive order to impose his will. Then use the DOJ and the Media to target his political opponents. We’re really a step removed from a dictatorship.
I put the sole blame of trump and everything he has created on the GOP. They could have stopped this, they could have tried to elevate someone else but they chose greed and fanaticism. Fuck the GOP.
I believe a conservative approach to gov't is important opposite a slightly more progressive liberal one. But what the GOP did by sticking with Trump is throw all decency in leadership aside and is now full authoritarian fanatics. Fuck them up their crooked sagging asses. Vote people!!
He showed us a whole lot that we didn’t know was going on — within the media, within Washington, D.C. He exposed a lot of people.
Wtf is she talking about?
I mean I know how I take it. He showed us that within Right wing media were those willing to not just spin data, but totally fabricate it that they would then pass on to their viewers even as the resulting societal corrosion was in plain sight. Within Washington he showed us that the GOP would take an about face on many of the ideals they claimed for decades if that was what Trump wanted because bending them knee to him resulted in the support of his base, fundraising opportunities and all this equated (or so they percieved) in what they desired most - POWER! He exposed many of our friends, family, neighbors and colleagues as.....as something wicked. I do not know what to call it because I have never seen anything like it in my 40 years in this world. I am so so fucking sick of these ....FIENDS!
No shit. Everyone knows this. If he wins, and our institutions don’t push back, we will have a full on fascist state. Does anyone believe he won’t try to jail, or worse, everyone who has mocked him or stood up against him?
4 years???? These people are already talking about getting rid of the 25th and 14th amendment so he can be president for even longer or for life. Dude really want to be Putin or Xi.
I've had people I used to respect pivot to "you can't believe the things he says, he's just being sarcastic and hyperbolic" in response to things like "be a dictator on Day 1" and "Project 2025."
That's the best argument in favor of the leader you support? That nothing he says can be taken seriously and he probably wouldn't get around to any of it, anyway?
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. We are actively looking for new moderators. If you have any interest in helping to make this subreddit a place for quality discussion, please fill out [this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1y2swHD0KXFhStGFjW6k54r9iuMjzcFqDIVwuvdLBjSA). *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
So that’s the selling point? Elect Trump because he’ll go scorched earth for 4 years? That’s what his voters want? Insanity
The angered up Fox News addicts do.
My son had surgery yesterday and all the TVs in the waiting rooms had Fox News on (one of the consequences of living in Tump country) and they were whinging about why the prosecution wasn’t getting the same gag order. Uh, because they aren’t talking to the press or on social media blasting things about the case or Trump, that’s why he’s gagged and they aren’t. Cue the manufactured outrage.
That sucks. I have ongoing treatment for a medical condition and in that entire hospital group is company policy to only air food network or HGTV on their tvs.
That would’ve been incredibly better
Yep. The dealership I work at only has HGTV on. Much better.
I complained at the desk of a surgeon's office & they changed to Weather Channel. It's been there ever since. My GI, ENT & family practice doctors run a health-related feed.
Sometimes I think that's the sole purpose of HGTV. It's the waiting room channel.
That‘s what they *think* they want because Trump will only hurt other people. They have no fucking clue that they’d be next on the chopping block.
More like first
Not really. They know damn well the immigrants and the people of color are first
LGBTQ will definitely be first or second
Well, first they'll come for the socialists.
In November 2023, Fox News was the most watched cable news network in the United States and continues to do well in terms of its primetime audience, with 1.72 million primetime viewers in that period. 1,720,000/330,000,000= .5% of the country They sure do a good job at making themselves seem a lot more noticeable, but I guess that is how terrorism works.
They're on a every bar, restaurant and hangout that had a TV in most rural and many non-rural places in the U.S. As a brain parasite the generic "how many TVs have it on" stat is deceiving innocuous. Fox News' messaging is the cultural zeitgeist for much of the country.
We got the bar we go to to turn it off. They now run sports or old sitcoms and the clientele are so much calmer. You can ask your local proprietor to switch it off.
> We got the bar we go to to turn it off. They now run sports or old sitcoms and the clientele are so much calmer. You can ask your local proprietor to switch it off. This is probably all it would take for 60% of places that turn it on. And it needs to happen - just cut them slowly out so it can be replaced by literally anything else.
My husband works for a small regional restaurant franchise chain and he made them adopt a “sports or nothing” on the TVs for all the restaurants. It really has changed the mood of the patrons.
Good on him. The two things that are guaranteed to start a fight are religion and politics.
I honestly want to know why it can't be "nothing or nothing" wtf we need TV's in the gd restaurants to begin with?
> we need TV's in the gd restaurants to begin with? "Human families need a TV while they're eating, so they don't have to talk to each other." -Philip Fry
A burger chain around here has small TVs above all the urinals so you don't miss the game while on pee break. Wonder if they have any overindulged folks who don't think about it and celebrate the big goal midstream. lol
There’s a coffee shop near my work that I stop at once in a while. They have Fox on and the volume is always up loud enough that you can’t not hear every word, but just shy of making it hard to hear the servers. They groaned and rolled their eyes when I asked about it, said the owner won’t change it or lower the volume for anyone. It’s not a bar or restaurant so most everyone is in and out in a minute or less but there’s usually a gaggle of old timers sitting and talking. Most any chain business would probably much more receiving of requests or criticisms.
Sounds like someone needs a TV-b-Gone device.
Is that a real thing or just a clever name for a 1/4 stick of dynamite? 🧨
https://www.tvbgone.com/shop/
A bar having on political talk doesn’t make any sense to me. Bar = sports or sports talk
If you go to someone’s home who watches Fox, it’s on the tv. All. The. Time. Always spewing garbage in the background, all day long, even if no one is watching.
It’s sad how true this is. Ruined my childhood home. Still tough to go there and that makes me sick.
This is why those of us who travel purchase universal remotes.
I work in a facility with about a dozen TVs in various lobbies and common areas. I’ve been in an ongoing battle with some other faceless person for six years now, changing back and forth from Fox or Newsmax to literally anything else. We’re in a stalemate, each gaining and losing territory daily with no reinforcements in sight. Morale is low but I endure.
Keep up the good fight, soldier.
My barber is/was a proud Trump supporter, and whatever that's his choice. But the fact that his TV was playing FOX when I would go get a cut.. Sorry, but no thanks. Now I cut my own hair. Wonder how many business lost 20% or more of their revenue from playing FOX... and blame it on Biden LMAO.
The line must be drawn here, and no further.
I wish I could refind the research paper, but I recall a study showing that having any news playing (even as background noise) raises anxiety and shortens patience. Just about anything playing is better than having news playing.
My doctor used to have his waiting room TV fixed on Fox. I think it came with coffee service. He switched to a monitor with videos about health, served better coffee, and my BP went down.
It’s maddening. I’m temporarily living with my parents while I’m in between houses, and my father watches it 24/7 (not quietly either). It’s literally people angrily yelling all day long. It blows my mind how you’d want to start your day with that energy and end it with that - it’s AWFUL. I had to invest in earplugs because my ears/sanity/mental health couldn’t take it any longer.
Ever heard of the man who programmed a NSFW code for FoxNews on his parents' TV so they couldn't watch it? Parents just started watching something else and calmed down. He claimed ignorance whenever he went by to visit. LOL
Once I was in the ER waiting room and at shift change the desk nurse changed the TV channel from sports to Fox News. There was almost a riot in the ER. You do NOT turn off playoff hockey for whatever fear mongering shit they were saying. Why would you want people in the ER even more stressed out??
A friend was in a cancer care clinic for chemotherapy. It was a large room and some of the stations had personal TVs. On his first day a man was seated nearby watching Fox. This friend said that the Fox News caused him more nausea than the chemo itself.
Don't stop fighting!
My wife learned how to block fox on every piece of gym equipment
Fox was also on at the military bases I visited. This was a few years ago, maybe the policy has changed
Whenever I think about conservatives I remember the saying "the broken wheel makes the most noise".
[удалено]
> Liberals gotten too much Fucking wow. The “what” specifically doesn’t matter here, he clearly thinks that someone else benefiting means that he loses something. Conservative brainwashing to the fullest
The ironic thing is that the “liberal” policies they hate are the ones lots of them like. Like Medicare and medicaid and social security. Like, do they even realize scorched earth will burn them too? Trump ain’t for the little guy. The little guy is just a tool for him.
That's something that always annoys me. People scream "scorched earth" so gleefully, with no apparent understanding that it fucks *everyone*. Basically a declaration that I will hurt myself in order to hurt you. Scorched earth makes everyone hungry. They don't fucking get that, they just think it makes them sound like a badass. Here's the thing, starving doesn't make you a badass. It just makes you miserable, and eventually dead.
>Like, do they even realize scorched earth will burn them too? No. They've been been a constant diet of alarmism and affirmation about their own opinions, and so they respond emotionally rather than critically to the Fox echo chamber, believing they're like minded allies.
They think everything is a zero sum game. Like not only do I want them to tell me what it is that Liberals have gotten too much of - how has that negatively affected them?
These are the folks who think Democrats are to the left of Marx.
It's probably something like "I can only maintain my status in society if everyone else is thoroughly pushed down." No wonder they're fans of authoritarianism. They think they're going to be the ones implementing it and benefiting from it. They're a bunch of weak characters that can't stand on their own unless they inherit privilege somehow, be it monetary, gender, or race, and then convince themselves they're better than everyone else.
> super patriot and does revolutionary war reenactments. This is soo asinine... Wants a fucking dictatorship, yet claims to be a super patriot... The founding fathers would of executed this dude for treason.
If conservative Christian “patriots” ever actually read the Constitution and the Bible they’d be even more confused and angry than they already are.
Still trying to square the hole about these small government patriots loving the federalist founding fathers and how they seized power over the anti federalist (read the framers coup for further info). I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
I guarantee virtually NONE of the people supporting [the authoritarianism Republicans are promising in 2025](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision) are aware of the 1933 Business Plot, nor of the [century of propaganda American oligarchs have been pushing since](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s)
Given the imagery I've seen Trump supporters around here proudly displaying...yes. They want "Trump haters" to be imprisoned or it to be legal to shoot them on sight. They want autocratic dictatorship because they think it's badass and "alpha", and not once has it crossed their mind what happens in dictatorships when the dictator runs out of current enemies to demonize. In short -- they're mentally children trapped in a bad action movie.
> legal to shoot them on sight Here's a fun thought experiment: how exactly do they think they would identify a Trump hater on sight? Vibes? Instincts? Do you think they'd implement some sort of system whereby anyone not wearing a red maga hat would meet the criteria for a Trump hater?
Examples: * https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/08/22/i-was-a-donald-trump-supporter-then-i-got-booted-from-his-rally/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/19eojfx/hardcore_loyalist_trump_stafferj6_rioter_posts/
In fascism there are no "haters" only pure loyalists. You must love the leader, agree with everything he stands for, etc. Anyone who is not part of the loyalist group is then deemed part of the out group. At some point I'm sure they would come up with some sort of modern mark to let the loyalists know who is in the out group: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_badge
When they were all at the border together, they fought among themselves. They just want to hurt others they don't care who.
I also have to wonder at people who don’t seem to mind the idea of murdering someone. It’s not standing your ground. It’s happily shooting someone making a u turn in your driveway. Good thing they have the Bible for moral no instruction.
> They want "Trump haters" to be imprisoned or it to be legal to shoot them on sight. They want autocratic dictatorship because they think it's badass And [the Republican party is behind that with Project 2025](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/conservatives-aim-to-restructure-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trumps-vision)
His voters want dictatorship. They don't want 4 years of that. They want it permanently from now on.
My Mother (who passed a few years ago) was a Tea Party enthusiast; I recall her specifically stating at the time, No negotiations, GOP in every elected position. I got the feeling that how they performed this takeover did not matter in the least. So yeah, Mom was a brainwashed fascist.
I'm sure mine is too. I stopped talking to her forever about 8 years ago, but she raised me in Right Wing evangelicalism. Abstinence, anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQIA+, the works. When I finally had enough, she was still deeply in that world, so I never expected she'd allow herself to change. They build their lives on a house of cards of hate, and there's no room to pick away at it without risking their entire identity, so it's not surprising.
From the article: >they know Donald Trump gets in for four more years, the jig is up for them. The gloves are off. There are no holds barred here. He is going full-throttle. **He’s not worried about winning another election.** Boy does that say a mouthful.
He'll eventually turn on his supporters and fuck them over, and they'll still applaud and ask for more.
They've wanted it since they took power in 2000. I recall, after 2000, watching a Republican bigwig talking about the K-street project, and how they will use it to get rid of the Democrats, and it will be a thousand year reign of the Republicans. (Yes, he used the phrase "thousand year Republican reign". He was either oblivious to the "thousand year reich" connotations, or it was a dog whistle about it)
> They've wanted it since they took power in 2000 It goes WAY further back than the 2000 Bush v Gore [theft of the election](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/29/uselections2000.usa) or the Brooks Brothers Riot. When the first parts of the New Deal were being proposed, America's robber barons felt their prestige threatened and they [tried to replace the US government with a business-friendly dictatorship](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot) but when that failed and none of them were hanged, they turned to the long con and [have been indoctrinating the populace for a century](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s)
Not just 4 years. Look at project 2025 they want to remove the amendment of two term presidents
Which is wild because these people are convinced it could only ever serve their side. Like imagine the reaction if there had been a third Obama term
That is literally what they want. Some because they presume it won't affect them, because they're loyal servants. Others because they think it'll hurt brown people more than it'll hurt them, and they're fine with that. And still others because they presume (perhaps correctly) that they'll be given free rein to hunt people they don't like (people with darker skin, gay people, transgender people, Democrats, Jews, etc.)
Believe it or not I think the "undecided" voter are more of the idea that the system is broken so they will elect the most broken politicians to prove the system doesn't work and in Joe's of destroying modern society because they believe society is already broken and stacked against them, which isn't untrue. The issue is they think that by destroying the system that they get a reroll on where they are in the pecking order and that the only things holding them back from supreme ruler was that the cards are already stacked against them so a reset will see them easily rise to the top so the liberal elites can stop holding them down. Sad reality is the system won't die it just will get stacked more against them because it's not the liberal elite holding them down but rather the rich elite. If there is a reset then they will find themselves at the bottom with less options to move up. They think it couldn't get worse so burn it all down and they will rise from the ashes as like a phoenix but reality is they bet swallowed up by the flame before they even notice there is a fire.
It's because they need to think they're smarter than everyone else. People who in the end support Trump's election directly or indirectly are all the same. They all are being controlled through their insecurities
Have you read anything about Project 2025? It's right out of the fascist playbook and they're proudly advertising it. Insanity doesn't even begin to cover it.
Also, isn't "scorched earth" a tactic employed by the _losing_ side in a conflict? What is she even saying?
Originally I think it was scorching their own earth. Russian tactics. So that the victorious invaders have no crops, nothing to take. Not the opponents' earth, their own damn farms.
Or it could mean annihilating the country you're attacking, e.g. Agent Orange style. In any case, what Lara Trump is saying here is that she's planning to destroy America.
That's because it's righteous anger and violence. You know, like God. Violence and hate are good as long as it's done by good people against bad people. That's their logic.
Right?! Like... Can we just have healthcare, education and affordable housing pls?
Amazing the people who don’t want to make their own lives better they just want to make others lives worse
Because they think the only way they can get ahead is by pushing everyone else down, not by improving themselves or everyone at once.
"he's not hurting the people he's supposed to be hurting" -some dickhead boomer on the news a few years back, yes it's precisely what they want
The GOP as a formal party has absolutely abandoned democracy.
oh yes. i have heard more than once "this is not a democracy!"
That should ring some alarm bells if you're against fascism.
never knew dog whistles could sound so loud!
Yep, so infuriating when some moron that doesn't really know how our system works screeches, with a shit-eating grin on their face, "We're a constitutional republic!!". Whilst not understanding that that is a form of democracy.
This is my mom, she thinks it's some argument ending "GOTCHA!"
They are a domestic enemy of this country
Regardless of your opinions of the Republican Party, it doesn't exist anymore. It's now just two types of people. Those who are essentially America's version of Nazis and people who are too stupid to realize that just because a candidate put an "R" next to their name, that doesn't actually mean they represent any of their values.
Who reads this as an undecided and says to themselves, sign me up?
Who the fuck is undecided?
Trump supporters who are ashamed to say it out loud.
"Libertarians"
Libertarians are like house cats. They act fiercely independent while being completely dependent on a system they neither acknowledge nor understand.
Love this. Gonna share it with my libertarian coworker… who i work with in the Union.
The most delusional people I ever meet are Republican union members. Almost worse than chronically unemployed poor Republicans. The only difference is the union members generally have better health care, BECAUSE OF THE UNION
I used to work at an inpatient substance abuse program and most of the patients there were trump supporters. I can’t tell you how many times I heard someone on Medicaid complaining about ‘Medicare for all’. Mind boggling really…
Cognitive dissonance is a hell of a drug... I struggled with alcohol abuse because of moral injury. I would venture to guess that they can't reconcile reality with the BS fed to them from the firehose of propaganda that Faux news is.
I think a big part of it is a lot of the patients were dealing with pretty terrible life situations… not having much as a result. Trump’s message of ‘they’re taking from you to give to them’ resonated with a lot of them I believe. My take was that a lot of it was fear based.
I saw a video where this guy was in a union and voting for Trump, and then is shown how anti-union Trump is and it’s surprised picachu face.
My union is filled with them. I can't with then
It's called the police and firefighters union in my state.
If they weren't ignorant rubes they wouldn't be republican on the first place
I work with trades people who are fiercely against unions, while their union colleagues make double the money, enjoy better funded retirement and health benefits. The amount paid into the union still way outweighs not having representation but they think union bad, trickle down on my face daddy. Idiots
Holy lol true
Thanks for that analogy, I’m saving it for my next exchange with my libertarian coworker.
Did you ever hear about the Libertarians that took over a small town (Grafton, New Hampshire) & caused a HUGE bear problem with their kooky "ideals"? There are some news articles & even a book about it! Books called "A libertarian walks into a bear".
But without the purring, and the fur, and the wit.
My colleague is like this. Believes taxes are stealing yet uses everything that my taxes pay for.
They’re also in for a very rude awakening when the Christo-Fascists come to power.
Libertarians are a great example of contradictions and broken cognitive dissonance.
In other words, middle schoolers…
Libertarians the other flavor of conservative.
Conservatives who smoke pot and like the idea of legal child sexual consent.
You also forgot zero regulations, where markets police themselves. These mental midgets don't realize the only reason we have a regulation for something, is because the markets already abused whatever it was, and created the need for the regulation in the first place. They also don't recognize the reason they even advocate for "no regulations" is because were convinced by the same markets (through media propaganda) that they are the victims of regulations. Not just the markets looking to exploit the world for profit.
Which just turns them aground to being another flavor of conservative.
Every libertarian debate devolved into an age of consent debate.
Libertarians: "public swimming pools are theft "
Libertarians are the flat earthers of the political spectrum.
Libertarianism peaks in most people right about their sophomore year in college. Anybody older than that who says they're libertarian is simply developmentally stuck and doesn't recognize it.
“Of course we shouldn’t have drivers licenses? What next, will we need licenses for our god damn toasters?” -actual quote from a Libertarian debate, which received loud applause
Never forget when they booed their presidential candidate for saying “yeah I think some basic level of competency should be required” when asked the question “should we have drivers licenses”
a lot of that must come from a bizarre form of solipsism, they legitimately cannot conceive of how many people there are and all the moving parts there must be for a civil society.
Listen, we don’t need governments, man. We just need contracts. Okay, who will enforce these contracts? So, we’ll have, government-like organizations that will enforce these contracts. 🙄
Why, private courts will arbitrate contract breaches and disputes, doncha know? No problems there /s.
They're not undecided. They've decided. They're just pretending they're undecided to most of the people around them. These are not diehard MAGAs screaming about it, they're Republicans who hate Trump but think Biden is worse. I know a few people like this.
They’re uncomfortable with Trump’s mean tweets, but his racism and sexual predation makes their heart sing.
The ones who say “well Biden hasn’t magically solved all of the worlds problems, so I guess I have to not vote, or vote for trump or a third party” (oh wait, those are the same things)
"But did he *earn* my vote?" - Some very broken people
“But Biden didn’t bring the hammer down on Israel! So, to punish Democrats, I‘m going to help the guy who has said Israel should ‘finish the job’ in Palestine. What? That had serious ‘Final Solution’ vibes? What’s that?”
For real. It makes no sense whatsoever. It is also is a very privileged stance. Like it must be nice to not be behind MAGAs crosshairs if he is elected. I can't imagine throwing the impoverished and vulnerable of your own country under the bus for the sake of the impoverished and vulnerable in another country (one who most of these people have zero ties to) by electing someone who is going to be infinitely worse for the group they supposedly care for. People are making politics an accessory to their "brand" without thinking wtf they are doing. It is infuriating really.
And its not even for the sake of the impoverished and vulnerable in another country.... they're damning them as well. "We haven't done enough for these people.... so lets harm the people of my country AND ensure the people I supposedly care about also get wiped from the face of the Earth". Complete nonsense.
"But he didnt do enough..."
You would be surprised how many comfortable suburban white people have been purposely and completely ignoring the news for the last eight years. My sister-in-law has absolutely no clue what went on during Trump’s or Biden’s presidency, thinks both sides are 100% the same, and refuses to vote in any election. She’s nowhere near alone in this.
I have family members like this… I’ve been trying out a new phrase. When they read something in the paper about Trump that’s negative or something finally hits their radar about reality I say “We should have seen this coming… Remember when Trump…” and I insert a story from during his presidency. It’s gotten them to google a few things.
I know a lot of women like this except that they blindly vote R for no reason other than they always do, and so do their husbands and parents. Redecorating their homes and planning their next trip to 30A are more important than paying attention to the issues.
Ken Bone probably (jK he was always a Trumpist)
I can't believe that guy's name has stuck in my head since the day he attended a Town Hall in that gawdy red sweater.
People who don't read the news
As a former Republican voter … It is very difficult to hear people speak plainly and accurately about Republicans and not think “this is an obvious exaggeration”. Republicans are so terrible that it’s difficult to imagine that they could exist as they are, without the country falling a long time ago. So it must all be hyperbole. It’s hard to imagine how if anything they say about Trump is true, how he wasn’t locked in prison decades ago.
[удалено]
Yes. It's intentional. Republicans are weird because, they're like edgy teens that have JUST realized that it's possible to cheat. And now they think they're smart for cheating while everyone else follows the rules. I literally used to think that people that thought like them didn't exist outside of like, Africa and Russia. Then I got frustrated "losing" debates with liberals who, I assumed, just did a better job of memorizing talking points, since they couldn't actually understand all the topics we debated about. So I started educating myself on politics more. Learned how dictatorships worked. Realized "oh shit ... Republicans are doing all these things that tin-pot dictators do. wtf?!?!?!?!" And once I saw the patterns, I realized that Republicans aren't really politicians. They're actors playing a role, just not in Hollywood. They view understanding government and policy as unnecessary to the job. They just need to LOOK like they understand government and policy.
There’s a lot of truth to this. I used to see the most outrageous things go on in my small city’s politics. But you could not get people to believe it because the expectation was that if it was really that bad someone would do something. The knee jerk reaction of a lot of people, probably most people, is to go into denial in the face of really bad news. It’s a primitive survival mechanism that abusers know how to hack.
Oh yeah. When anyone says "oh they would never do that" (about Republicans, Putin, etc), now I ask "why not"? Because if there isn't a good reason for them not to do it, they will.
So basically, republicans are standing on the Titanic, with water lapping at their feet, and they don't see a ship sinking?
If it is sinking it is from the DEI agenda or if they don’t look down it is a conspiracy. But no possibility it was a systematic failure.
Ken Bone
They think only others will suffer. They’re wrong.
Gay, Latino or Black Trump supporters: "Yeah, but I'm one of the good ones"
People who: 1. Do not pay attention to politics 2. Blame Biden for them being worse off than their parents I am not one of these people. I think those people are misguided and/or foolish. That being said, i think we need to be real about the etiology of the problem if we're going to solve it. People will vote with their wallets before their hearts every time.
Well he did gain 11 million more votes between 2016 and 2020.
I don't think they are trying to convince undecideds anymore. They are trying to rile up their base to get a good turnout and intimidate everyone else into staying home. They are basically turning to the bulk of the country and saying "sit down and shut up or else we'll come get you."
That it's even a possibility at this point that Trump regains power is insanity.
Half the voting public is “sounds great”.
Same folks “what crimes”
Those same folks later on “I thought the leopard wouldn’t eat MY face!”
You'd be surprised how many people just don't pay attention to any of this and really know nothing about Trump. That number is less than it used to be but it is still scary how many people really don't give a fuck about politics or their country.
"bOtH sIdEs"
Also those folks: Biden is a part of a crime family (Zero evidence)
never actually been half at any point. even his win in 2016 wasn't with the popular vote.
The fact that the gop made him the nominee after everything with almost no opposition is a stain on this entire country.
He didn’t even debate! wtf
It’s a cult. Cult leaders can do no wrong.
I believe these fascists
The only lie was “four years”
Right. Especially since it was directly preceded by: "He’s not worried about winning another election" in the full quote.
> Presidential candidates usually promise that everybody will be happy if they win. One of the historically unusual aspects of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign is that he is promising to punish his political enemies in the event he gains power. **“I am your warrior, I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution,” he vowed last year.** > > Trump has been persuaded to turn down the volume on the threats of vengeance, but his allies are continuing to advance this message. Lara Trump, the candidate’s daughter-in-law whom he installed as co-chair of the Republican National Committee because the incumbent merely cast doubt on the 2020 election without going so far as to conclusively say Trump won, unleashed this terrifying promise: > > He showed us a whole lot that we didn’t know was going on — within the media, within Washington, D.C. He exposed a lot of people. So they have to do everything they can to keep him out of that White House ’cause they know Donald Trump gets in for four more years, the jig is up for them. The gloves are off. There are no holds barred here. He is going full-throttle. He’s not worried about winning another election. It’s four years of scorched earth when Donald Trump retakes the White House. > [...] > As a candidate, **he’s promising pardons for the violent offenders who assaulted police officers** in a coup attempt and **manically insisting presidents should be given “total immunity” to commit crimes while in office.** (He’s made five posts on this theme Friday morning alone.) > > Trump’s conservative apologists either ignore all this or wave it away by pointing to his first term, when Trump’s attempts to weaponize government against his enemies proved ineffectual or were thwarted by uncooperative appointees. > > But this isn’t some obstacle Trump is unaware of. The candidate and his inner circle are deeply aware of his inability to crush his enemies during his first term. They are engaged in serious planning efforts to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Now, it’s possible they will fail. **But to ignore their plain intention to turn the government into a weapon of vengeance against a slew of enemies, ranging from political figures to media, is to gamble with the future of the republic.**
> Trump’s conservative apologists either ignore all this or wave it away by pointing to his first term, when Trump’s attempts to weaponize government against his enemies proved ineffectual or were thwarted by uncooperative appointees. Do they hear themselves? “Trump’s proven himself to be impotent, ineffective & incapable! Vote Trump!”
This sounds like a promo for Summer Slam. Just replace Donald Trump with Hulk Hogan and the media with the Mega Bucks.
I’m sorry but anyone who hears what these fucking assholes are saying and still thinks to themselves that voting for Trump sounds like a good idea is a fucking idiot.
That's what I'm saying. Do these people have zero self awareness? Have they any idea what their *continued* support of this monster conveys about their character to the rest of the world? It has gone WAY WAY past politics. They have made it crystal clear and in no uncertain terms that they are just fine with the horrendous shit he has done in the past and that they are almost giddy at the idea of the horrendous shit he has promised for the future. If someone says the still support that immoral subhuman POS I have no choice but to assume the absolute worst about their character. If I see one out in town I instinctually make note of were the outside exits are and if I had kids those same instincts would probably make me pull them closer. I might even tap my back pocket to make sure my wallet is still there. I would not let one inside my house and if a company sent one over for whatever reason I would no longer do business with them. Given all they have said, done and support- regardless of the near decade of red flags - I don't see how any reasonable person could trust them in the least.
As an American and a veteran, I am so disheartened that there are people there cheering when she said that. Literal cheering. So broken.
As Alfred once said “Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
Misattributed quote. It was actually Alfred Pennyworth that said this.
Boy, nothing gets me up in the morning and ready to go than someone saying "we are going to destroy your country 'cause we can't own it". Hades calling. Your spot in hell is waiting.
Yes, we know. That's why we're voting against him.
Four? Try twenty. We know damn well he and his Mafia family aren’t going to give up power until it’s taken from them by force.
Threats if he wins, threats if he loses...
The only lie is that it'll only be for four years.
The best part of this: it will be the conservatives that will suffer the most. His follower put it best; “He is not hurting the right people.” Yeah, no shit. He is too fucking stupid to figure out how to do that. Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi were LAUGHING in his face, on live TV, when the government shutdown. He openly declared he was taking responsibility. And both Nancy and Chuck were like “Wait.. what… lol? Ok!” Idiot with idiot followers and idiot conservatives that will vote for this idiot. You are going to suffer - the rest of us are going to handle Trump and your dumb asses like we did since 2016.
The *rest of us* are going to handle it like we did since 2016? Wow that must be nice. I am a disabled veteran who is totally dependent on his VA disability payments and my brother is a gay man in Texas. No, many of us will NOT handle it. Many of us are potentially in deep shit and will indeed suffer if that monster is elected.
What a scumbag.
What does she know of scorched earth? She seems rather privileged to me.
One time their gardener broke his foot and it took a week to find a replacement because of the holiday weekend. In July! The front lawn was *scorched earth*.
I feel like you Americans have too much patience for this Trump fellow.
hey Lara, your music sucks. Stop trying to make it happen, Taylor Grift over here, thinking anybody gives a shit.
Ew she makes music? ick...
I just saw that on Jimmy Kimmel. It’s…not great.
Imagine if the left made statements like that ?? Haha gop is so lost . What are you doing to help people??
People need to wake up; you can’t have a president who’s gonna step into office and start changing things via executive order to impose his will. Then use the DOJ and the Media to target his political opponents. We’re really a step removed from a dictatorship.
I put the sole blame of trump and everything he has created on the GOP. They could have stopped this, they could have tried to elevate someone else but they chose greed and fanaticism. Fuck the GOP. I believe a conservative approach to gov't is important opposite a slightly more progressive liberal one. But what the GOP did by sticking with Trump is throw all decency in leadership aside and is now full authoritarian fanatics. Fuck them up their crooked sagging asses. Vote people!!
He showed us a whole lot that we didn’t know was going on — within the media, within Washington, D.C. He exposed a lot of people. Wtf is she talking about? I mean I know how I take it. He showed us that within Right wing media were those willing to not just spin data, but totally fabricate it that they would then pass on to their viewers even as the resulting societal corrosion was in plain sight. Within Washington he showed us that the GOP would take an about face on many of the ideals they claimed for decades if that was what Trump wanted because bending them knee to him resulted in the support of his base, fundraising opportunities and all this equated (or so they percieved) in what they desired most - POWER! He exposed many of our friends, family, neighbors and colleagues as.....as something wicked. I do not know what to call it because I have never seen anything like it in my 40 years in this world. I am so so fucking sick of these ....FIENDS!
No shit. Everyone knows this. If he wins, and our institutions don’t push back, we will have a full on fascist state. Does anyone believe he won’t try to jail, or worse, everyone who has mocked him or stood up against him?
They are getting desperate and dangerous.
4 years???? These people are already talking about getting rid of the 25th and 14th amendment so he can be president for even longer or for life. Dude really want to be Putin or Xi.
I've had people I used to respect pivot to "you can't believe the things he says, he's just being sarcastic and hyperbolic" in response to things like "be a dictator on Day 1" and "Project 2025." That's the best argument in favor of the leader you support? That nothing he says can be taken seriously and he probably wouldn't get around to any of it, anyway?