#like you know trump's a white nationalist right

[undeadlobster]

I’m already seeing “Vote 3rd party” and “Don’t vote for Biden” posts and I’m sick of it

For fuck’s sake the US does not have a ranked choice voting system, voting 3rd party in the presidential election IS literally throwing your vote away. The last time a 3rd party candidate won any electoral votes was in 1968

One of the two parties nominees WILL be the president. We are either going to have Trump or Biden, period. I hate it, you hate it, but it’s the reality we live in

I feel like everyone here has fucking dementia, do you all remember how bad it was under Trump?!? I do, my wife is a nurse and I had to comfort her as she dealt with the deaths Trumps policies caused during Covid. Trump has explicitly said he will remove the protection of Trans students under Title XI, not to mention the White Nationalists that tried to throw a FUCKING COUP WHEN HE DIDNT WIN?!? Do you all think if we give them power again they will ever surrender it willingly??

And I get it, I’m furious at how Biden’s administration has handled Palestine, but anyone who thinks Trump will handle it better is delusional

HE MOVED THE US EMBASSY TO JERUSALEM FOR FUCKS SAKE. He’s clearly said to the world that he sides with Israel and has been blatantly Islamaphobic from day one. Not to mention him publicly saying that he’s going to “crush pro-Palestinian protests” I just don’t understand what your plan is here

For Senate and House seats? COMPLETELY different story, you can implement long term change by voting for 3rd party candidates where the districts are secure. But splitting the Democrat presidential vote is a sure fire way to never have a free election in America again. We need Trump to lose BADLY if things are going to get better

Vote in the primaries for Democrats and 3rd party candidates standing for Palestine in your local and federal elections, contact your legislators. Vote vote FUCKING VOTE!! Do NOT let Trump have another 4 years of Federal Judge and Supreme Court nominees. DO NOT let the maniacs in the Republican Party have Congress and the Presidency AGAIN ARE YOU INSANE

FUCK

[iswearbyalltheflowers]

This is a good example of how a non-antisemitic anti-zionist movement would almost be a contradiction in terms, because non-jewish political anti-zionism starts from the premise that yes jews ARE invaders and parasites and unwanted guests living on the sufferance of christians and muslims who have a natural right to expel us and that zionism is a violation of this right that must be redressed.

This post would like to have it both ways and assert that jews fully belong where we live AND grant that anti-zionism seeks "decolonization." But to say that it constitutes "colonization" for the jews in Israel to have sought self determination for themselves, is to admit that jews do NOT in fact fully belong. As it turns out, jews' belonging someplace is actually contingent on not asserting ourselves politically, on our subjugation or assimilation. Everywhere jews have been the outgroup for as long as we have lived we can at a moment's convenience be deemed actually "colonizers" and asked (forced) to leave. Which is why every anti-zionist regime has indeed done so.

(x)

if you are anti-zionist the most effective work you can do is to ensure your community--politically and geographically-- is safe for jews to exist in. im serious. is your community safe for jews to be in? do you know any jews? if you do, are they scared of you? if you don't, if they are, why?

zionism is the premise that jews need to take exclusive control of our own homeland by force because there is nowhere else in the world for us to belong. that's it, that's the heart of it. if you disagree with the premise, you need to be part of the counter argument: that the jews of the diaspora are valued by their fellow citizens in countries around the world. that the jews of europe and asia and africa and the americas belong where they were born, that the jewish people deserve to belong wherever we live, that we are not invaders or parasites or unwanted guests living on the sufferance of christians and muslims who have a natural right to expell us when we've outstayed our welcome.

i'm not israeli. that land is the home of those who were born there, and i was born in california. i know a lot of my fellow americans right now that say they're anti-zionist but what they mean is they want israel gone and me along with it. and that is, ironically, why there's zionism in the first place.

are you anti-zionist or anti-jew? are we your neighbors or not? if you really want decolonization, get your own community in order. if you want all the jews to just fucking shut up already, you can join a six thousand year tradition of not actually ever managing that no matter how many genocides get done.

[killyjae]

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

[deadpresidents]

I just hope these next 4 years go by fast

This election isn't just about the next four years. With Trump in the White House and a Republican Senate at his side, the MAGA movement can pick up where they left off when it comes to packing the federal judiciary with right-wing judges who will control the Supreme Court and appellate courts throughout the country potentially for the rest of the lives of everyone reading this right now. It's the perfect recipe for them to continue stripping reproductive rights away from women nationwide and gives them the opportunity to turn their attention to the other issues that they have been dying to attack, from voting rights to gay marriage and every other extension of personal freedom that has been won by minorities and marginalized people in hard-fought battles over the past 60 years. This is the nightmare scenario that people have been warning folks about for the past few elections. It's here. And there isn't going to be a way to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

The consequences of this election will have a direct, negative impact on your life -- possibly on the entire remainder of your life. This country just re-elected a President with authoritarian tendencies who is the willing puppet of a dangerous Christian nationalist movement that figured out exactly how to manipulate him (through flattery) for their aims. They have created the perfect vehicle for a genuine cult of personality that they can use to achieve the goals they have been very clear about striving for over the past few years. And you can't blame anybody other than the American voters because they not only elected Trump, but they gave him a fucking mandate, with a Republican Senate and potentially a Republican House. They already have a right-wing dominated Supreme Court for the next few decades, and now they are going to ensure that the entire federal judiciary is in their control for years to come. And don't forget the fact that a few months ago, the Supreme Court handed down a decision that gave Presidents sweeping immunity for a broad (and conveniently undefined) range of "official" acts, so Trump is going to go into this second term knowing that not only does he not have to deal with the "guardrails" of responsible adults he had around him in his first term (Mattis, Tillerson, Kelly, General Milley, etc), but he knows he can get away with virtually anything and everything that he wants to do this time around. If you thought that Trump's first term was bad, just understand that they are prepared this time and now he's surrounded himself with people who will do his bidding -- people who are perfectly willing to let Trump be Donald Trump.

I wish there was a reason to cry foul, lodge protests, and challenge the election's results. But this wasn't a rigged election. There isn't any confusion about what the voters really wanted. The American people did this. People you know and care about and who say they care about you are the people who did this. We need to recognize that these elections aren't outliers anymore. Trump's supporters aren't simply chaos agents who got lucky on a bad day for the Democrats. That's the country we live in now and we have to find a way to resist it that actually makes a difference because now they have the keys to all the doors and all of the alarm codes. This country has normalized the conspiracy theories and nativism and racism that has powered the MAGA movement since the moment Trump came down the elevator at Trump Tower in 2015. He's given those people permission to be open with their hatred towards people who aren't like them, and it's actually become surprising to see how many Americans have been eager to take advantage of that. I didn't think I had any misconceptions about this country before Donald Trump because I recognized this nation's history, but I clearly had some misconceptions about people I thought I knew until I saw them wearing a red MAGA hat or noticed they had a gigantic flag with Trump's name hanging where their U.S. flag used to hang. Once that happened, it was like a switch went off with them and they started saying things in ways that I'd never heard them speak. I feel like that's happened to the entire country. It breaks my heart and it pisses me off.

For the past few years, I've been warning everybody about how elections have consequences. I imagine that there are hundreds of posts on this blog with that phrase in all caps listed with the tags. Now the elections have happened, and we have to live with real fucking consequences. And we're going to pass these consequences on to other generations because this is the one that you can't get a do-over on. When you give a movement like this the power and the mandate that this country just gave them, there is no easily rolling back the things that they end up doing. They are going to fundamentally change the lives of people in this nation and especially change the way the younger generations of Americans live and love and learn for years to come. And you have people in your life who made that happen. It's another disgusting day in America -- a prelude to another reprehensible four years (at the very least) -- and I'm ashamed of tens of millions of my fellow Americans because this one is on them. They know exactly who the man is that they voted for, and now we know exactly who they are, too.

[hoosbandewan]

No matter who someone votes for does not make them a bad person. If someone votes differently than you and you find that as a reason to not support them then you are part of the problem. I'm thankfully open-minded and glad I can have Democrat and Republican friends and we can all still be friends even with different beliefs and opinions. I don't understand how anyone can have that mindset.... You want Peace and love but are the first ones to throw someone under the bus if they think differently than you do.

And using Ewan to push your thoughts is shameful

Having friends on both sides of the aisle is fine. Having a difference in opinions is fine. I think it can be incredibly damaging for people to get caught in an echo chamber and be surrounded only by people who share their same viewpoint. And the fact that we can all have our own thoughts and opinions is what makes a free country like the U.S. so wonderful.

I even know a good number of Republicans and conservative-leaning people who didn't and wouldn't vote for Trump. And, you see, that's the difference.

Voting for Trump.

You cannot, in good conscience, look me in the eye and tell me that casting a vote for Donald Trump makes you a good person. I could have forgiven a Trump vote in 2016, but not in 2020 and certainly not in 2024.

Trump attempted to overturn a democratic election and was indicted for it. And on that day, he voiced support for the Capitol rioters who wanted to hang his vice president for failing to reject the electoral votes that proved Biden's win.

Trump nominated Supreme Court justices to overturn Roe v. Wade, a move that has already killed women and will continue killing people. In Texas alone, the maternal death rate rose by 56% between 2019 and 2022, the year that Roe was overturned. Since the reversal, the infant mortality rate has risen by 7% nationally - and by 13% in Texas alone.

Trump is unapologetically and unabashedly racist, displaying repeated and disturbing rhetoric aimed at immigrants, Mexicans, black Americans, Haitians, Muslims, and more. In his first term, he instituted new procedural barriers to prevent immigrants from seeking asylum in America. He put migrant children in cages. He has unjustly called for the death penalty for numerous people of color - remember the Central Park 5?

Trump has threatened to deploy the military and law enforcement to target his political opponents and left-leaning Americans.

Trump rolled back almost 100 policies focused on clean air, water, wildlife, and toxic chemicals in an era when mitigating climate change is more important than ever. And he plans on gutting even more.

Trump is a convicted felon with 34 felony counts under his belt.

Trump has shown time and time again that his views and policies align with fascist ideals. He wants very, very badly to turn the U.S. democracy into an authoritarian regime.

And if this isn't enough, Trump has been endorsed by the KKK since his 2016 campaign. He's the golden child of white supremacists and white nationalists everywhere.

So, yeah. If this is your guy, I don't want fucking anything to do with you.

I am so sick and tired of Trump supporters crying about peace and love and civility and "oh, but where are the tolerant left?" when they turn right around and vote for Donald Trump.

You don’t get to hold abhorrent views and beliefs and then be friends with us. You don’t get to be friendly to our faces all while supporting a man who wants us dead or oppressed. You can't profess to love your fellow Americans if you are condemning them.

I don't want to hang out with racists and fascists. Because if you choose to support and vote for a racist, fascist, misogynistic, dangerous person, then that makes you one, too.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jay Kuo for Think Big Picture:

We’re all still grieving the electoral loss and feeling queasy about the prospect of Trump returning to the White House in January. But in response to the giddy pronouncements from the GOP and the Trump campaign, some have already begun to think about an effective political resistance to Trump and Trumpism. 

Democrats need to make these plans knowing full well that Trump will be backed by a sycophantic GOP Congress and blank check-writing SCOTUS. And this time around, there won’t be any adults in the room, including White House counsel who during his first term would quietly shelve Trump’s most outrageous requests, or chiefs of staff like John Kelly who would struggle to moderate, educate and soften his most extreme positions. No, this time around Trump will be surrounded by people even further to the right of him. They will seek to implement the most dangerous and destructive of policies, many drawn from the Project 2025 blueprint. And they will encourage Trump to issue Executive Orders that could reshape American democracy, insert our armed forces deeply into civil affairs, hurtle our economy into an abyss, and upend the lives of millions of minorities.

This is a thought piece, an early stab (and work in progress) about how Democrats (and the lawyers who are aligned with them) can ready themselves to resist Trump. We’re in very new territory here, but the ideas are based on what we’ve learned about Trump from both his first term and the four years he’s been more or less idle when he wasn’t sitting in courtrooms or stumping on the campaign trail. They play into both his ego and the worst aspects of his character and leadership style. I hope you find this early exploration a good starting point for how the next four years could go if Democrats play their cards smartly, even if the strategy seems highly unorthodox. Note that I won’t be discussing what average citizens might consider doing. This, for now, is the beginning of a political and legal strategy. Others involved in grassroots organizing may have ideas for direct resistance by citizens, but that is for another discussion.

[...]

Hit ‘em with lawfare

One of the most effective weapons against Trump’s policies during his first term was the slew of lawsuits that his executive orders met when they were first announced. Remember the Muslim ban? That bounced up and down the courts for years before it could finally go into effect in a watered-down form. 

Lawyers from every non-profit walk of life should be readying civil complaints today, just as people like Russ Vought are already preparing horrific executive orders for Trump to sign. The minute Trump announces his Day One policy to deport millions of undocumented migrants, for example, lawyers everywhere should file suit. It shouldn’t just be one suit; it should be several. Tie up the White House lawyers and the Trump Justice Department with as many cognizable claims as they can think of. More than the sheer number, they should file these cases before judges in jurisdictions where the appellate courts will be more friendly, such as in the Ninth Circuit. This is the inverse of what MAGA and Christian Nationalist legal counsel have been doing now for years by picking a single court near Amarillo, Texas to ensure their cases are heard before radical judge Matthew Kacsmaryk.

Once those cases are filed, judges (and their clerks) should slow-walk them. Act like the nun in The Sound Of Music, opening the gate as slowly as she can so the Nazis are delayed. Then, after issuing temporary restraining orders, set the hearings out as far as possible. Have the lawyers demand extensions. File motions that could receive interlocutory appeals, to further gum things up. In short, drag things out as long as possible to prevent his policies from going into effect. Governors in blue border states could also get involved. California and Arizona both have Democratic governors, after all. And they also have Democratic state attorneys general. These states could move to intervene in suits or file them on their own, just as the red states have done to block Biden’s policies like student debt relief. Sure, this will eventually get up to the Supreme Court and get overturned, but the point is delay. Run out the clock, run out the clock, run out the clock. Trump only gets four years, two before the midterms. [...]

These are but a few broad-stroke ideas, but it’s time everyone who will be part of the resistance start thinking about how they can play a vital part in pushing back. Some of these tactics are admittedly unorthodox, others quite petty. Still others are variations on what has worked well before. Together, they could bog down or distract Trump and the White House just long enough for the midterms to give Democrats a chance to regain control of one or both chambers and really turn up the heat.

It may make many quite uncomfortable to consider deploying these kinds of strategies. They make Democrats into obstructionists, even political saboteurs, much as the GOP has been for the few cycles when Democrats have been in charge.  But here there is a difference, though it’s one MAGA Republicans will never acknowledge: When actual fascists have taken control of the government and are trying to destroy democracy, patriotic opponents must use every peaceful means at their disposal to prevent them. Indeed, it is a moral imperative, because millions of lives are on the line. We cannot act as if the world has not changed, and Democrats must grow far more accustomed to acting outside the box and getting creative in their approaches.

It’s time for Democrats to play rough by delaying and gumming up Donald Trump’s tyrannical proposals to run the clock down.

[qqueenofhades]

what's been particularly vile to me is this group of white online leftists who insist that anyone who cares about more than this one issue for the election is a bad person, like, as if us black and brown people are making up reasons to be afraid and not.....believing the gop when they say they are coming for us. believing trump who has said previously that he does not bluff, that he will do the things he's said he will do (i hate what social media has gone to the word gaslighting but it feels like gaslighting. we lived through four years of trump. we saw the damage. stop treating us like we're being dramatic). it must be great to not have to worry about that i guess? "life won't change under trump" is such a telling admission because maybe theirs won't but mine will. and so many others' will.

and it is often again these (white) online leftists that love to call anyone who disagrees with them a white liberal (derogatory) because they know it would be racist (bad) to be this shitty and condescending to poc but they don't want to actually listen to anything black and brown voters are saying. it's easier to just call us white liberals and throw our opinions out, to ignore the work of black people for decades to gain the right to vote, to disregard the weight of telling them to not do that. it's genuinely appalling. they care so much about racism until it's time to engage with poc who have different opinions than their online echo chambers, then we're just stupid liberals with terrible opinions like..... wanting to live. not wanting four more years of trump. so sorry for that.

sorry for this vent in your inbox, i'm just so fucking tired of white people trying to rewrite history as if trump wasn't that bad. he was for my family and countless others and i am terrified for what's to come if he wins.

The thing about (the often-white) Online Leftists is that they have become just as much as a radicalized death cult as the diehard Trumpists. If you don't want to die for The Revolution and/or sacrifice your life, friends, family, the rest of the country, etc., then you're Insufficiently Pure and must be Purged. (Which I think is just complete BS, as none of them could actually handle sacrificing anything, but it's increasingly the only kind of performative rhetoric that is acceptable in leftist-identified discourse spaces.) This is functionally identical to "if you aren't willing to lay down your life for our Lord and Savior Donald Trump and the Great White Christian Nationalist Dictatorship, you're a liberal cuck," but with the names and justification changed. It doesn't change the underlying radicalization, nihilism, and insanity of the premise.

Another thing the Trumpists and the Online Leftists have in common is that they are busily rewriting just how bad Trump was in order to serve their Ideology. Ever since January 6, 2021, the Republicans have thrown everything they have at revising and whitewashing any suggestion that it was an "insurrection," and the Online Leftists have done the same, in an attempt to "prove" their insane point that Trump "would be better" than Biden. This is embodied in the recent ultimate-brainworm-nonsense maximalist-online take that "Biden has to lose so the rest of the world will see that the US rejects genocide!!!" That's right, the message that the rest of the world would take from Biden losing to Trump is that the US rejects genocide. Never mind if Trump literally wants to commit all the genocide possible and to install himself as a fascist theocratic dictator. In the deeply twisted minds of the Online Leftists, this is the only possible interpretation of Biden's loss, so they'll push for it as hard as they can! The Trumpists and the Online Leftists, at this point, are working pretty much in concert to damage Biden for similar insane reasons and get Trump elected. Etc etc., one Nazi and ten people at the same table is eleven Nazis.

Like. Sure. Four years ago, when Trump was president and people were dying by the thousands because he didn't want to wear a mask because it smeared his bronzer, just to name literally one of the terrible things he did every single day (and not even mentioning how much worse a second term would be) we were absolutely better off. Super-duper great. (Sarcasm.) Either that or "there is suffering and evil in the world and the only solution is to drastically increase the suffering and evil for everyone and to destroy what progress we have managed to make because It Does Not Fix Everything Now" is an absolute moral imperative, and either way, yeah. I'm calling bullshit.

[whatbigotspost]

HEY! Trump didn't repeal the EEOA, he repealed the order applying it to federal employment. Please let your followers know that they still have those protections if they work for a private employer.

Also, if your boss says any different, don't correct them; contact an employment lawyer. They work on contingency, which means you can get one even if you have no money.

Hey! I understand your point here, and the intensity with which you are making it, the hopes behind why you are making it, and the need for us to ensure that people do continue to know their rights, and stand up against corrupt employers, NOT LOSE HOPE,… all of it.

Please know, I truly understand all of these things. As does OP who posted the thing that I re-blogged from, and you can go see more behind the thinking and why this is such a big deal here.

AND

I have to be very honest I think that a lot of you who are bringing this “you’re wrong, it’s not that big of a deal“ are yet again not paying attention to Texans.

Obviously unless you list it in your profile, I have no idea where you are located… But I do know that OP and I are both Texans. And I don’t know any other way to say this, except that Texas & Florida are very specifically where white Nationalist far right crypto fascist ideologies come to life immediately. I care a whole lot more about those of us who are on the front lines of these things and those two states in particular are paying attention to then I do people whose states are going to grant them immediate back up guarantees that they’re not fucked over by this. That does not exist in my world.

I am a Texan who works for a nonprofit organization that is considered a federal contractor. I oversee and administer both private funds from those who just make donations as well as public funds from every level of government that overseas the state of Texas, meaning city, county, state, and federal. As with all things and government funding, the federal government sets the policies, and then everything trickles there from after. That part might take a long time to get impacted, but I do just wanna note it will happen if this executive order stands.

but again, Texas is special. Because our state government worships Trump, it means there’s going to be enormous pressure for us to immediately drop our adherence to the EEOC. It will sound a lot like “why would you opt into all of this government, bureaucracy and red tape when you don’t have to and your business can just move faster. “

Business leaders who are even moderate will get compelled by this nonsense. Of course, when it comes to my decisions as a leader and my organization, We won’t, but that’s the landscape we’re in… There are numerous powerful entities who have a Texas based vested interest in ensuring that the EEOC does not exist any longer. Because they are no longer going to be held responsible by upholding it at the national level, it will be immediately overturned within more private and local businesses at the Texas state level, then you could possibly even begin to imagine. even though my world, my sector, my peers. and my organization is very far left for the state of Texas, I will be in Rooms where bosses, business owners, and employers of all kinds With power over me as funders will be laughing hardly about how they get to save all kinds of money and hire whoever they want. I’m telling you this will happen…

The chilling effect won’t take years in Texas . It will be immediate because these are his friends that are waiting for this to go through. My governor, Greg Abbott, is one of the Trump administration‘s most violent, active, vocal, unapologetic, and sycophants style worshipers Trump has.

Don’t get me started on how our states’ medical infrastructures have been decimated by our lack of participation in the affordable care act/marketplace. Do you live in a state where you get nine times more Medicare funding for poor citizens from the feds because they’re not an adversary to the federal government when Democrats have been in charge? I don’t! The negative impact on Texan’s health has been truly incalculable .

How about also in 2021 when abortion became illegal through the SCOTUS shadow docket in the state of Texas, people exactly like me right now a.k.a. no really me were screaming from the rooftops that Roe was gonna get overturned at the national level.

We were fully ignored… And that’s just speaking to the most recent example of how this goes.

The old saying has goes Texas so it goes the country is very true. The threats to the EEOC might feel really far away to somebody who lives in a blue state or somebody who has an employer who will just inherently follow it, but there’s about to be a lot of very immediate very disgusting and very troubling fall out from this executive order and to diminish it, in my opinion, it’s just as insulting to me as a Texan as it probably feels insulting to you as someone who thinks that I’m being alarmist.

i’m not mad and I don’t mean to be rude, I just really feel like these kinds of concerns are always diminished and I don’t think this is a time for diminishment.

[contemplatingoutlander]

Apocalyptic rhetoric is just as dangerous as the violent kind

Paul Waldman is absolutely correct about how the Republican's "apocalyptic rhetoric" about the Democrats could ultimately lead to violence just as much as the violent rhetoric. The GOP frames Democrats now as deliberately wanting to "destroy" America. (Ironically, it is the GOP who have turned toward autocracy and seem determined on establishing one party rule at all costs. This suggests that once again, Republicans are projecting onto Democrats.)

“I cannot stand these people that are destroying our country,” said Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to a crowd of Donald Trump’s supporters at the Iowa State Fair this past weekend while the former president looked on approvingly. Gaetz then added: “Only through force do we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C.” The second part of that statement made headlines, as it’s not every day that a member of Congress advocates “force” to achieve political goals. But the first part ought to be just as troubling, because the two parts operate together. The idea that our opponents are purposely attempting to lay waste to America is often the justification for all kinds of radical action — violence very much included. Barely a day goes by without prominent Republicans repeating that claim. Trump regularly says his political opponents will “destroy the country,” or have already nearly destroyed it. It’s a staple of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s rhetoric. “If woke ideology takes over, it will destroy this country,” DeSantis says. If President Biden is reelected, the governor insists, “the left is gonna absolutely destroy this country.” [...] Yes, liberals have made dire warnings about a second Trump presidency. But that’s unique to Trump, who actually tried to overturn a lawful election and retain power, and last year called for the “termination” of the Constitution. So the assertion that if he became president it could mean the end of democracy is at least not too far-fetched.* The talk of the United States ending its run some time in the next few years because Democrats passed some modest expansion of health coverage or kept pushing for a transition to green energy, on the other hand, is bonkers. Yet, unlike other kinds of rhetorical calls to extremism, we don’t police it at all. Journalists tend to be very attuned to hints of political violence. When a candidate says he wants to start ���slitting throats” in the federal government, as DeSantis recently did, we condemn it and explore its troubling implications. We press Republican contenders to admit that Biden fairly won the 2020 election and to repudiate the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. In contrast, we treat partisan apocalyptic rhetoric as mere hyperbole. But it’s the premise that turns anger into action. If you actually believed your opponents were literally trying to destroy your country, what wouldn’t be justified? Threatening election officials? Storming the Capitol? Assassinations? You might protest that Republican politicians don’t really believe this talk. But clearly, many of their supporters do. Which is no surprise given how often they’re told that it’s true. [...] Any rational Republican knows the truth about the next election: If Biden wins, it will mean nothing more than four years of policies they don’t like. That will be deeply unpleasant for them. But it won’t mean the end of America, and they shouldn’t be allowed to say so without challenge. We ought to treat apocalyptic rhetoric just like we treat violent rhetoric: Take note of it, condemn it, challenge candidates to defend it, and explain the threat it poses. Why? Because many of the voters who are listening think the Republicans spinning out wild tales of America’s imminent destruction mean what they say. [emphasis added]

____________ *In my opinion it isn't just Trump, many on the left have legitimate concerns about extreme right-wing Republicans like DeSantis and white Christian nationalists who seem to want autocracy/ one-party rule because they have either said and/or shown that they do.

[batboyblog]

Less than 60 days out from the election, how do you think we’re doing, considering the recent debate and Taylor Swift unleashing the Swifties?

I'll start this by saying we're with-in the margin of effort, if either side really puts their backs into it, and pushes and shows up, volunteers in big numbers and turns out voters it could go either way.

So having said that, I feel good, right now the national polls are close, but all show Harris ahead. The swing state polls likewise are close but mostly show tied or leaning to Harris. On top of which Senate Democrats (and the candidate for Governor in NC) are running far ahead of her in polling, I hope thats a sign that late undecideds will break Democrat, they often do break toward the incumbent.

On the debate, I'm often skeptical that debates shift things. That said I think anyone watching would say that debate is pretty unique in the history of Presidential debates. The media has been working very hard to uh "sane wash" Trump and what he says. That debate was an unfiltered view of Trump. I'm frankly shocked he brought up the pet eating, the right has been meming about it but I thought he'd only say some dogwhistle to it not just straight up say some of the most racist shit imaginable on live TV. The bar for Trump was very low and he still failed totally to meet it. Likewise Harris had a high bar and met it, she was claim, she was professional, she came across as ready and smart while also serving as the audience surrogate to let us all know "yeah this is as crazy as you think it is"

just briefly here the attack on Haitian Americans is crazy, and racist, and the whole "the immigrants are eating dogs" goes back 100+ years, I've read people accusing NYC Jews in the early 1900s of kidnapping and eating neighborhood cats and dogs. But also its politically crazy too since Florida where Trump and Republican Senator Rick Scott have both been slipping in the polls as America's largest ethnic Haitian community, just over 500,000 or roughly 2% of the state, so great plan to call them pet stealing and eating monsters just before an election.

The other factor is the Laura Loomer. If anyone doesn't know who she is click that link and enjoy, but basically she's a white nationalist and Islamophobe (that's according to her) and the person extreme far right Republicans point to as proof that they're not "that bad" any ways, Loomer seems to have been with Trump, on his plane the day of the debate and every day since, and Republicans are wigging out

MTG, and any number of Trump super supporters are sounding off about how much they don't like this, and the internet is "joking" that Trump and Loomer are sleeping together. Together with his unhinged debate being connected with one of the worst people in American politics might cause serious problems. In any case a campaign of just alt-right memes is not gonna win most Americans.

On TSwift, I mean the data I've seen showed a really big jump in people exploring registering to vote after her message which is good. I'm again skeptical about how much of an impact she'll have? celebrities in general don't have that big of an impact, basically 90% of famous people are Democrats/liberal, but their fans don't always go along, don't get me wrong I'm happy she endorsed I just am unsure how big an impact it'll end up having.

So to repeat what I said at the top, we're in the margin of effort, if everyone who doesn't want Trump volunteers and puts in the work Harris will win, so

VOLUNTEER

[that-girl-harper]

just want everyone who voted for donald trump to know that you will not be getting better egg prices for your fucking omelets

but you can get your neighbors fucking deported, like they’ve already begun ice raids and tried to go into a school in chicago to TAKE kids from their families. but of course ice has denied all of it but there is multiple eye witnesses since it was the staff that denied them entry

and now in arizona they’re going after navajo people and taking them to deport potentially (i just saw a tiktok on it so im not to sure if that’s real but i sure hope it isn’t)

so i just hope you all get what you’ve voted for because after they come for all the immigrants they will just find another minority until there is only the far right christian white nationalists left.

does that sound familiar to you?

[odinsblog]

One About The Atmosphere: Want to change minds? Stop trying. Change the atmosphere instead.

Donald Trump in 2016 greets a screaming horde of ecstatic white christian nationalists

Minivan was a nice enough guy. He was easygoing; a happy guy with a frequently deployed smile. I don’t recall much anger from him, nor many strongly held opinions. I wouldn’t call him a philosophical type. No deep late night talks with Stove Minivan is my recollection.

This is the sort of dude I’d hang out with at a party, if there were a party we were both at, but not one with whom I’d maintain a relationship if we both graduated and then moved to different places—which I know for a fact, because that’s what happened. We drifted.

So then what happened is twelve years or so later I got on The Facebook, and Stove Minivan was there, too, and before long, we were friends again, he and I, and so were me and my other college friends, and them with him, and … look, you know the drill. It was The Facebook.

Minivan was no longer a pre-med student at a small northern liberal arts college. He was a doctor—a general care practitioner, if memory serves—in a smallish plains state town, very much like many other towns in the great plains or elsewhere in the country, I imagine.

Anyway, before long I noticed something about Minivan. Even though his feed was full of pictures of him and his lovely family, and he was smiling in them just the same as he always had in college, he was angry.

He was *enraged*

What was he angry about? The Demonrats.

Minivan was absolutely enraged about everything the Demonrats did. He also was out of his mind angry about Killary, and Obummer, the leaders of the Demonrats—or at least they were the front for the real leader of the Demonrats, who even back then I believe was George Soros.

What did the Demonrats do? Oh my heck, what *didn’t* they do? Mostly they hated America and American security and American economic strength, it seems. They engaged in corruption and bowed to foreign powers a lot. They shredded the dignity of the presidency, that’s for sure.

Minivan’s worldview wasn’t particularly coherent, if you want to know the truth.

I couldn’t help to notice that the Demonrats weren’t actually doing many of the things that Minivan thought they were doing.

And I noticed other things.

For example, I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of the policies Minivan supported were directly *causing* the sorts problems that made Minivan so angry.

And I couldn’t help but notice that well-sourced information enraged him more than pretty much anything else.

There was a lot of linking to sites I’d never heard of, like Breitbart and Newsmax, and of course plenty of Fox News. There were a lot of memes. There were a lot of conspiracy theories (a big birther, was Minivan).

Some of his posts contained subtle bigotry. Most of the rest contained not-subtle bigotry. Several of them contained slogans and statements that were, very simply, neo Nazi and white supremacist memes and shibboleths.

There was a lot of commentary accompanying these posts from Minivan, who was saying shocking stuff for a small-town family doctor … the sorts of things that it seemed to me would make people not want to use this person as a doctor, or or sit next to that person on a bus.

I hadn’t heard of Alex Jones, yet, but Minivan sounded a lot like Alex Jones, word for word and beat for beat. He’d even start his posts like a right-wing radio host: Sorry folks, but you can’t even make stuff like this up—ironically, accompanying things that had been made up.

This was all pretty distressing to those of us who had known Minivan back in the day, before he had become so obsessed with Demonrats.

So, a lot of us, myself included, did exactly what The Facebook wants.

We engaged with him.

At the time my belief was, you defeated bad ideas with better ideas, by confronting the bad ideas directly with the better ideas. Debate was for changing minds. You presented your ideas, they presented theirs, you countered, they countered, eventually everybody saw the truth.

But the intention was that I’d change his mind, with facts presented logically, delivered calmly and patiently.

This was my belief.

What happened confounded me, but perhaps you can predict it.

Minivan escalated any correction, however calmly stated or bloodlessly presented, into scorched earth territory. He rejected all proofs by rejecting the source outright as irrevocably tainted by bias, or he’d spiral into non sequitur, spamming our feeds with more misinformation.

He would claim he never said things he had just said, even though the statements were still there for anybody to read, one comment earlier in the thread.

He’d claim that I said things I'd never said, as anyone foolish enough to read through our conversations could discover.

He demonstrated a complete dedication to his ignorance and anger, and a total disinterest in anything like observable truth that contradicted his grievance.

It was confounding and unfamiliar behavior to me, at the time.

At the time.

All of it was larded with grievance, a sense that people like him had never wronged anybody, and everybody else had done nothing but wrong people like him.

The bigotry and authoritarianism grew.

And all the time, on Facebook, he and his family kept smiling their perfect smiles.

I’ll admit that over time my interactions stopped being polite and bloodless, and I’m not particularly sorry for it. I told him some things about himself he seemed not to know, but which I thought really ought to be said.

I have a bit of a penchant for sarcasm, which you may have noticed.

I employed this skill, and you can feel how you want to about sarcasm, but I think it helped convey the correct posture to take toward someone who says the sorts of things Minivan was saying.

The correct posture being "you have proved yourself to be a person who should not be taken seriously, and your positions do not deserve even a modicum of respect."

I found this a more healthy message to convey about Minivan to anybody watching, and I still do.

Eventually he blocked me, and he was out of my life forever. It was the right choice, and I'm very glad he did that.

I’ve pondered the incident since, as it’s become more and more relevant to “the way things are.”

A few things had become clear over time.

Minivan was not somebody whose intentions could be trusted. He was not operating in good faith, and I believe he well knew it, because many of his favorite sources of information have written instruction books on how to engage with people in bad faith.

Minivan was not debating; he was using debate to inject his counterfactual beliefs into the discourse, which were designed to further marginalize already marginalized people while simultaneously cloaking himself in self-exonerating grievance.

More, he was exerting an active effort to not know things that could be easily known, and to demand to be convinced out of deliberate ignorance, not because he was interested in having his ideas challenged, but because he demanded a world in which he got to decide what was real.

Further still: Minivan *learned* from me. The effect of telling him he was using one or another logical fallacy was not to sharpen his reasoning, but to teach him about the existence of logical fallacies, which let him (incorrectly) accuse others of those same logical fallacies.

So Minivan was deploying the language of logic, in ways that betrayed a total lack of understanding about what those fallacies were, granted, but in ways that likely made him seem more knowledgeable and reasonable to a casual or sympathetic observer.

He learned to ape our phrases and arguments, in much the way he’d learned to ape the style of Alex Jones and all the various Breitbart and Newsmax contributors he used to inform himself.

And these days it occurs to me: I hear a lot about "groomers."

We were not changing him by engaging with him thoughtfully.

We certainly weren’t changing him by engaging with him in kind.

Rather: we were making him better at what he was doing, and we were validating his world view—to himself and others—as one that merited engagement.

And week after week on Facebook, Minivan kept smiling and smiling and getting angrier and angrier, at us and Obummer and all the other Demonrats and liberals and every member of every minority group who dared to fail to ceaselessly assure him that he was right about everything.

I don’t miss Minivan's black-hole-sun smile. I think of it as my first hint of MAGA: politically overrepresented, socially coddled people, often living outwardly happy privileged lives, while seething inwardly that other people might be getting anything, anything at all.

Indeed, soon enough, another figure would come on the scene, whose behavior matched that of Minivan almost exactly, a perfect avatar for this spirit of aggrieved bigotry and supremacy that seemed to be moving through my former friend.

And sure enough, as I saw, there were millions and millions of smiling seething people who loved him.

And that guy became president.

Nobody believed he would. And then he did.

Because Stove Minivan, it turns out, wasn’t some weird outlier.

He was part of a growing new normal, a group of people who had been offered a chance to immigrate from observable reality and enter a dark world of constant hostility, misinformation, and self-loving grievance.

It's an invitation they leapt at, to which they cling even now.

It's a constituency immune to proof, angered by equality, cheered by cruelty, who blame others for the foulness of the shallow puddle of reasoning within which they have demand to be seated, even though we can all see them fouling it themselves, every day.

And afterward, a huge number of those shocked by this development decided the proper reaction was to accommodate it, in the name of unity—a belief, it seems, grounded in the idea that what you choose to get along with isn’t as important as getting along no matter what.

I’ll finish with the question that all of Minivan’s former friends would eventually ask, whenever they gathered together long enough for the subject to arise.

"What the hell happened to Minivan?"

Here’s the answer, I think: nothing.

Nothing happened to Minivan. Nothing at all.

He was always that guy, and he always thought the things he thought.

What changed was that he was given a lot of language with which to express those ideas, and access to enough other people who thought that way too, that it created a critical mass of permission.

The permission allowed him to change his attitudes and actions, and created a lot of other people willing to accommodate and normalize his antisocial anti-reality behavior, rather than reject it out of hand.

In college you could be pretty conservative, honestly. It was a pretty conservative place. But you couldn't behave like Minivan later would.

You’d be understood to be a far-right extremist, and people would then treat you like a far-right extremist.

Which is what you'd be.

I think it just wasn't possible for Minivan to be what he later became, because the atmosphere wasn't conducive to the possibility.

But then the atmosphere changed.

If we want to change it back, it's worth thinking about how atmospheres change.

(source)

[breederbutch]

want to take the opportunity to share this resource because it is actually incredibly terrifying to live in a state where men at large nationalist rallies are openly seig heil-ing the crowd to no condemnation, especially from self-proclaimed (though obviously false) "pro-jewish orgs".

while zionists lament anti-zionism, mass shooters with antisemitic manifestos and jewish targets, politicians proclaiming the state to be christian, and lawmakers pushing "biblical education" into classrooms continue to grow.

just because many white and affluent jewish people have the privilege to align themselves with oppressive antisemitic forces and sell out other jewish people (especially poor jewish people— who are the majority of jewish people— and jewish people of color) in exchange for (perceived) safety does not mean that jewish people, even white and affluent ones, are usually safe or inherently privileged or aligned with oppressive forces.

just because zionists continue to falsely paint human rights for palestinians as an antisemitic threat does not mean there is not real antisemitism.

just because zionists have posited that you can only care about palestinian rights OR jewish rights does not mean you cannot carry healthy wariness, attention, and care for both.

please go to the link below to learn more about antisemitic dogwhistles, phrases, slurs, numeric terms, etc. it is more important than ever to know our enemy, so we can recognize them quickly enough to stop them.

This post by Jewitches (the person who made the above link) sums up the essence of how philosemitism and zionism are not covers for antisemitism.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jewitches (@jewitches)

I also want to share this specific resource on the Groyper movement as it is growing in popularity, but I don't recommend many of the sources linked (like statistics from the ADL) or other articles by this site— I think this article is helpful alone.

And finally, a piece by Joshua P. Hill on the current state of nazism in the United States and how we can combat it to protect not just ourselves but our neighbors while disempowering the USA and fighting against USAmerican Imperialism.

There are more pieces specifically on philosemitism below and another piece by Joshua P. Hill on resistance but the above links are, I feel, the most necessary. Please look out for your Jewish siblings and empower them to be able to look out for themselves and each other.

And remember that the focus on Jewish targets of nazism is because of the overwhelming proportion of Jewish targets of nazism to people of color targeted by nazism within the most successful nazi state— a european territory (however these are still unacceptable numbers of targeted individuals— any number is— and it is widely accepted that the number of Africans who perished in the north African campaign are not as widely counted or known). as nazism begins to take hold in places with more people of color, please remember that nazism is inherently white supremacist and is not just antisemitism but also racism. standing up for and empowering communities of color, especially Black and Indigenous communities, is incredibly important too.

Joshua P. Hill's treatise on community defense during times of fascism.

Here is a piece on general philosemitism, but it mentions the UK a bit. Keep in mind that philosemitism is an excuse people like Trump and Musk use to shield themselves from being identified as antisemitic.

Here is an excellent piece by Jewish Currents on how philosemitism can easily play into antisemitism, tokenization, and racism in the name of jewish people. This piece is specifically about Germany, but many parts of it can be applicable to other self-proclaimed "philosemites" using the phrase or their allegiance to "israel" as a cover for antisemitism.

A piece on French philosemitism and its antisemitism.

More generally on philosemitism and its links to zionism, but speaks specifically about Australia and France at some points.

[finelinens1994]

allow me to think out loud for a bit

it absolutely kills me every time i see people talking about sapnap and kick saying things like "bench creators who are tied to sites that have fully platformed bigoted views and individuals" and "centered around transphobic racist homophobic stuff."

do you not browse the internet beyond your faves? do you not know how many conservative bigoted people are extremely successful online? on the platforms YOU use? this is a 2021 report about right-wing extremist twitch streamers. some of them have been removed from the platform now, but many remain. some examples of conservative or alt-right people on twitch include alex zedra (2A activist, trump supporter, 519k twitch followers), donut operator (2A activist, pro-cop, right-wing, 518k twitch followers), keemstar (is keemstar, 135k twitch followers). before his ban 7 months ago, adin ross had 7.25m followers on twitch.

the number of right-wing voices on twitch has reduced over time due to stricter community guidelines! but don't worry, you can find them all on youtube. the platform we all use every single day. (here is a 2020 study about radicalization on youtube [there are many], and a convenient list of 100 conservative youtubers.) you don't even need to seek out the channels, just watch youtube shorts for a few minutes and a white nationalist will pop up sooner or later.

i take issue with some of the conduct i see on kick and in its community guidelines, just as i take issue with some of the conduct i see on twitch and youtube and in their community guidelines. your anger at kick is understandable and justified, but it's also somewhat misplaced. i understand that you want a tangible conclusion to your frustration with the state of things, but that will not be attained by mass-qrting scottsmajor telling him to ban sapnap from future mccs due to his contract with kick. that will give you some momentary catharsis from what feels like a just achievement, but it doesn't accomplish much when it comes to the key issue of right-wing extremism being so common and accepted (or even encouraged) online. you genuinely have good intentions in your heart, i believe that. but this issue is simply not that surface-level.

campaign for sapnap to be banned from mcc if you'd like, but that will accomplish absolutely nothing for the goal of deradicalizing social media or making it a less volatile and dangerous place. it will simply take it slightly out of your direct line of sight. but it will still be there. if you're unwilling to, for example, recognize punz's growth from when he used a transphobic slur three years ago and allow him to continue growing in an encouraging environment, then i fear you may not be well-suited for the act of helping people deradicalize just yet. as said in the following link, a callout is not an invitation for growth. it's the expectation that you've already grown. this is the culture we're trapped in now.

"most of us want all of this violence to stop, but we don't know where to begin. and most of us stay silent, because we're afraid that we'll become the next target. so even if something feels unfair, we're silent. and if you're unlucky enough to have something that you regretted captured on a cell phone or in a tweet, you're walking around with an unexploded 'gotcha' bomb just waiting to blow up your life. or your career. or your reputation."

[eugenedebs1920]

America. Some would, and do, disparage it. Some would point out flaws against its foreign policies, domestic policies, its past, and unfortunately present, struggles with racism, its heavy lean towards inequality from its inception, its beginnings and the use of slavery, the slaughter of the Native Americans, its war torn history.

If you listen to a Trump speech, he will continuously disrespect our nation. He says things like, “we’re a third world country” and “we are a nation in decline”, and “we are a failing nation”, going as far as to call America a “shithole country”. I don’t know about you but I say. F*CK DONALD TRUMP!!!

America holds the title as the longest lasting democracy of all time! We were the first country in history to create the tripartite system of government as it stands today. We have been graced with freedoms unmatched by governments globally. We are, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all!

We saved the world from fascism in not one, but two, world wars. When there’s a humanitarian crisis, who’s the first nation there offering aid.

As an American, I love my country! I have, will, and, will always fight for my country, for freedom, for equality. There are those who masquerade as patriots while going against everything this country stands for.

For in our love of country, above political party, above one religion, above one man, we adhere to the Constitution, we respect the bill of rights. We have admiration to our institutions serving justice. We hold reverence to the notion that no man is above the law! That we are all created equal. That we all have certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!

What MAGA has done to our flag, to our political discourse, to our nation, Is a disgrace! Putting an insurrectionists face on our flag writing his name on it, associating us with Nazis and white supremacy. Fuck! Trump even changed the words to our National anthem and praises the seditious J6ers who stormed our capital to nullify the voice of the American people. To that I say fuck you!

We are not a nationalist state! We are not racism and hate! We are not political violence! We are not greed and isolationists. And we are not a dictatorship worshipping one, fat, orange, dumb, old man.

We are a nation that lends a hand around the world. Who comes to the aid of our neighbors when they need help. A nation where regardless your skin color, your ethnicity, your ancestry, gender, preferences, your religion, or lack there of. We are a kaleidoscope of diversity, blended together in the most gorgeous mixture of colors, of ideas, of cultures of peoples.

We are America.

[therealenemy]

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/elon-musk-appears-video-german-far-right-campaign-event-2025-01-25/

I need to talk about what’s happening in Germany right now as our elections come up in February, because I am so angry right now and now the amount of foreign influence from America has become, in my opinion, untenable.

For context the AfD Party in Germany ( or alternative for Deutschland ) is a far right neo Nazi party that has been on the rise in Germany for a few years now. They have played on fears of immigration to get elected and this has sadly worked because many Germans are still terrified of any religion that is different from the norm. They have very cynically used past terror attacks to imply that all Muslims have a „culture of violence“ and frightened Germans into believing that those of Arab descent all want to hurt our women and children.

They cannot call themselves „Nazi“ because that is illegal in our country but they use Nazi talking points and propaganda even to the point of copying their methods to get elected. For example; a little while ago they sent election mailers to to the homes of known immigrants that looked like fake plane tickets telling them they need to go back where they come from.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/14/german-police-investigate-afd-flyers-resembling-plane-tickets-for-immigrants

They have advertisements on our TVs and posted everywhere, featuring only white Germans using taglines like „Germany for Germans“, and implying that we used to be safe from violence and rape in our country (which, as a women, is ridiculous) but now we can’t be, you know, because of all those brown people.

Most recently, they hosted a rally in which Elon Musk was a VIP guest speaker. He talked to Germans and claimed we shouldn’t allow our „culture“ to be „diluted“ by multiculturalism. He opined that Germans should no longer feel ashamed of being German because of our Grandparents and Great Grandparents. Saying, as he has before on twitter, that the AfD were the only ones could „save“ Germany. It was the most direct references to our Nazi history that I have ever seen in German media.

Musk, the worlds richest man, who built said wealth on the back of other ppls labor and by buying up the intellectual property of people far smarter and more accomplished than him, now is determined to use that wealth and the influence it comes with to create a resurgence of the far right white nationalist extremism world wide. He, a man shaped by his Grandparents support of Adolf Hitler while they lived in Canada and his family’s support of South African apartheid while they lived there, now believes that he can shape the world, our world, in his image.

For my German friends: any German who votes AfD ( or CDU who at this point have capitulated completely to the far right ) are admitting that they have learned nothing from our history and are allowing themselves to be led by the nose by this worm of a man and his pet, Frau Weidel. And for my American friends, please I beg of you, resist this man and the politician he supports at every turn. It should be obvious by now why Elon Musk, who proudly does Nazi Salutes on your biggest political stage and then jokes about it, who has previously told the world that he believes western Jews are stealing from white Americans, supports Donald Trump.

What we should be doing is banding together internationally to stop this attempted destruction of our democracies and, frankly, our lives. This man should be brought to heel, we cannot allow a man to control elections internationally simply because he has collected such unspeakable amounts of wealth.