I didn’t vote for Trump, this is not a justification for anything he is doing, this is purely me trying to find any crumb of hope in this abysmal situation.
The country was in decline for at least a decade before Trump took office. So far everything has been a slow boil and we Americans just take it imo.
Maybe Trump will make everything so awful so quickly it will force actual change. Basically we were slowly heating the water and when it turned lukewarm Trump just cranked the heat up to max, maybe the frog realizes this and jumps out.
Positive change is not the plan. As per “The Despoiling of America”, the plan is to break American society until people are so destitute they will accept any change. At that point, Trump declares martial law and governs through presidential decree. He uses the special powers he has given himself to remove the separation of church and state and Avada Kadava, you have an evangelical dictatorship. Combined with vote suppression, evangelicals will be in power forever.
Thats called “Accelerationism” and its stupid, as history keeps proving
in a way, i said this and many other on reddit. he will destroy the GOP from within, they are pretty much without power if trump is not in charge, and most of the old guard gop have mostly left
The country was in decline for at least a decade before Trump took office.
Well 4 years of that decade was Trump being in office, and 4 other years was the result of people being willing to vote in literally anyone who wasn’t him. So really 8 years of that decade was Trump’s fault. And the other two years? Not bad.
As for the rest, Trump is cutting funding for research like crazy. That won’t just affect things today, that’s going to make stuff shitty for decades. And that’s exactly the kind of harm that the emotion-laden American news and social media simply won’t cover. So I don’t think there will be a backlash, rather the opposite - politicians will realize bullying scientists, government agencies, immigrants, and other voiceless Trump targets is just good politics, and keep doing it.
Of course future prediction is hard, so who knows what will happen. But I’m not seeing the path for this to turn around anytime soon. The same media that created MAGA, and made it even more popular 4 years after it proved itself to be a horrific disaster is the same media we have today. Democrats will probably win the next two elections because people can see what Trump is doing in real time, but after that I have no hope for America. If I have to predict the future, I’d guess the EU becomes the new global leader, driven by relatively high democracy and pro-science policies compared to the rest of the world. This could even occur in a relatively short time frame, like 5 years.
I kinda had the same “look on the bright side” outlook for Covid and was disappointed.
If the Reagan administration’s legacy is any indication, no, no it won’t. Things will continue being fucked and getting worse decades from now.
This post breaks literally rules #1, #2 and #3 of this community. Crazy.
Mods please wake up and DO YOUR JOB.
A Political Compass meme, in a Lemmy post’s comment section?
Reading these responses is so sad. I can see that a large number of people on here have fully embraced cynicism and active pessimism. This is the most damaging attitude possible when trying to create change. If you have this mindset, you’re not only not helping to make positive change, you’re actively working to drain any energy from those who might be in a better and more productive place than you.
To the OP, don’t give up hope. There are thousands of people around the country working right now to change things and resist the downfall of our country in whatever ways they can. The number is growing every day with each new outrage and attack, and energy is building quickly. If you can’t donate your time, donate your money to progressive organizations (look up the 50501 project for help finding them).
Nothing is going to change with blind optimism, but history is on our side, and it shows that when things start to hurt for people in their day to day lives, real change is possible. This is not the first fascist takeover in history, and it won’t be the last. Some older folks have literally lived through similar times in our own country (see: McCarthyism for example). Nothing is inevitable and no one can predict the future, no matter how believable their claims may sound.
To the cynics, you’re absolutely allowed to feel how you feel. I feel quite cynical myself a lot of the time, too. Just remember that when you mock and shout down people trying to move forward, you help create the future you’re so resigned to. Not all of us are so ready to roll over and take it. If you won’t help, please at least get out of the way.
/soapbox
Thought this would happen the first time, woke up to him winning again.
Shit needs to get a lot worse before it gets better apparently
Nah. Accelerationism is pure bunk with exactly zero evidence supporting it. Things getting worse just makes it harder to make them better.
Except, you know, most of human history. Can’t overthrow an evil regime if there isn’t one.
Thanks for saying it. People on here really seem to think this is the first fascist regime in history.
People forgot what Trump was like 4 years ago and re elected him. So no, it will not facilitate any change.
I like how people think destroying everything will somehow result in a future where people are empathetic.
Agreed; that jackass has pushed me firmly into the “let leopards eat all their faces” camp as opposed to giving a shit WHY they’re so fuckin stupid anymore.
It’s more about the less people have to lose the more they are willing to risk
When the people end up with nothing left to lose, things tend to get exceptionally shitty for a few generations. Then it’s a die toss to figure out if what comes after that is any better or not.
It’s not really a die toss because the people with power maintain that power and have the most influence in what comes out of that shit-pool. It needs a functional shakeup at the deepest level, and not superficial changes at the surface level to make an effective difference. Otherwise things will just continue to repeat until we destroy ourselves. The problem is that kind of shakeup requires that people remain vigilant and involved for their entire lives, which isn’t going to happen if their only concern is that their own lives are getting disrupted and they want it to go back to par, which is our current standoff.
Phoenix?
I have cystic fibrosis, it’s a genetic disease and my lungs are (were, I got a new set) especially impacted, I thought COVID could possibly change the world for the better for people like me, improved access via remote work or telehealth etc. that people would be more reasonable and understanding to those with lung disease, that the medical sector would start looking more heavily into lung health, lung rehabilitation, the issues around lung disease and immune-disregulation etc. but really very little has happened and there’s been no significant permanent changes and people chose to keep denying illness and disability exist… I think the virus of the trump presidency running through the US will have the same negative effect where a lot of people die and not much else happens
I’m disabled too. By far the biggest issue for me is other people’s reactions to it
My wife is disabled in a not-immediately-visible way and our experience is similar. Had one old friendship ruined because he decided she was lazy for not trying to diet her issues away.
Ugh, your wife and me both. “Have you tried meditation? Fasting? Maybe just push through the pain?”
Pushing through the pain is why my desk jockey ass is currently recovering from a surgery rarely performed on non-athletes. At least all the hospital documentation promises that I can start competitive play within a year or so. Upgrade!
“Let the OrphanGrindingMachine cook,” he said to the crowd.
TBH it does feel like more Orphans need to be crushed before the normie gets radicalized enough for action
That’s a legit societal theory called “accelerationism”. Make everything so awful that people will realize what’s happening and instigate massive backlash.
Except… the first time this was tried, in the 30’s, we got WWII instead of solutions. So maybe not that great of an idea after all.
There’s also the social cycle theory. Things always change.
This was first proposed in “The Republic” by Plato writing down Socrates’ arguments.
I feel like the arrows are backwards
I thought this when I first looked at it as well, perhaps it is because we are both under the delusion that we are currently in a democracy.
It feels that way, but that is correct. Here’s an article that helps to understand a little better. Usually there’s a buffer between Democracy and Monarchy/Tyranny. In the case with Trump, went straight from democracy to Tyranny because they elected a monarch who was also a tyrant.
https://www.history.com/articles/what-are-platos-5-forms-of-government
It’s not a theory. It’s a religion; sociopolitical homeopathy. Theories require supporting data and accelerationism has none. It just has people willing to sacrifice the vulnerable on the altar of fascism in the belief that magic will happen causing class consciousness, resulting in utopia, despite all evidence showing that it’s more likely to result in dark ages.
“Nah bro, we just need to let the fascists exterminate one more vulnerable group and the workers will rise up and form my version of a leftist utopia, just one more group, I promise, you just gotta read more theory if you don’t believe me”
I’ve blocked more people on here for their accelerationist bullshit than for anything else. At least the fascists will tell me to my face that they want to see me dead.
