#you know how this is going to go if it gets to fucking scotus

[leohtttbriar]

As Colorado leaders prepared to roll out universal preschool in the fall of 2023, they invited public and private preschools across the state to join the program. Among them were St. Mary Catholic Virtue School in Littleton and Wellspring Catholic Academy of St. Bernadette in Lakewood, the two schools now at the center of the lawsuit. The “mixed delivery” approach — meaning both public and private schools can participate — helped ensure there were enough seats for all of the Colorado families that wanted one. This year, about 41,000 4-year-olds are getting tuition-free preschool through the program. But the Archdiocese of Denver wouldn’t let most of the 36 preschools it oversees sign off on the state’s non-discrimination agreement, a requirement to participate. The sticking point was the agreement’s protections for people based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Officials from St. Mary’s and other religious preschools raised their concerns during meetings with state preschool leaders before the program launched. That’s when state leaders mentioned an idea they’d come up with to allow religious preschools that joined universal preschool to reserve some or all of their seats for members of their congregations, according to testimony from the trial. But the Catholic preschools instead wanted the state to exempt them from the parts of the non-discrimination rule covering sexual orientation and gender identity. State officials refused, saying those protections were part of state law. “In a sense, church leaders want to have their cake and eat it too,” said Bob Shine, associate director of New Ways Ministry, a Catholic group based near Washington, D.C., that advocates for LGBTQ inclusion. “They want public funding because in most cases the church cannot sustain a lot of its educational or charitable efforts now, so they need the government money, but they don’t want any of the conditions that come with (it).”

[qqueenofhades]

I don’t have any words right now for what’s happened. Where in the fuck do we go from here?

I don't know. I really, truly don't know. We can't sugarcoat how bad things are going to get, and we can't pre-emptively give into it anyway. This is going to be an unprecedented time in American history (if, sadly, not world history) and the forces conspiring to make you obey will gain much of their power from you doing so in advance, without a struggle. It seems fair to say that America as it has always been historically constituted is over, and may not return in our lifetimes, but we also do not know that for a fact. If nothing else, the fascists will find it very hard to cancel competitive elections, and we cannot sit back, throw up our hands, conclude that voting is clearly meaningless, and let them do that. There are a lot of other things that we need to do, but that's one.

There are various postmortems to be written and nits to pick, but Harris was thrown into an impossible situation and did the best she could in 100 days. Even her critics agree she ran a pretty much flawless campaign. But this country simply decided that a well-qualified black woman could not be preferred over the most manifestly and flagrantly unfit degenerate to ever occupy the office. They decided this for many reasons, not least because large swathes of the country now live in curated misinformation bubbles that, under Government Czar Musk, will only get much, much worse. They were helped by the cowardice and complicity of the "mainstream media" that could have ended Trump's career exactly like they did to Biden after the first debate, but chose to preserve the profits of their billionaire oligarch owners and did not do so, giving Trump the benefit of the doubt and normalization at every turn. They also hounded Biden relentlessly over the four years of his presidency, never reported on the good things he did, and drove him to the historically bad approval ratings lows for a president who was by any metric, quite successful (and will quite possibly be our last ordinary American president for a very long time). Along with the searingly ingrained racism and misogyny and misinformation, Harris could not overcome that.

Democrats clearly had a messaging problem, but it's also true that the country, quite simply, does not care about "democracy" when the economy is perceived to be at stake. Not to over-egg the Hitler parallels, but yeah. This is how Hitler returned to power in 1933 -- on the backs of widespread economic collapse of the Weimar Republic; voters decided they just didn't care about the overtly fascist stuff, which he then proceeded to you know, do with genocidal vigor. Except the American economy in this case was actually doing well, which makes it even more baffling and indefensible. Enough people simply memory-holed Trump's crimes (aided at every turn by SCOTUS, Mitch McConnell not convicting him after January 6, Merrick Garland being far too slow and timid, the corporate media), liked the racist fascist behavior or felt that it wasn't a dealbreaker, and decided that in this election, he was the "change" candidate. It's insane by any metric, but that's what happened.

The country is deeply sick. We do not know what will happen. It's going to get bad. Barring a miracle, we will not have federalized abortion rights again in my lifetime, and there will be widespread attacks on public health, women's rights, immigrants, transgender people, and other vulnerable people. Even and especially the ones who voted for Trump. Never Thought Leopard Would Eat My Face, etc. Alito and Thomas will swiftly step down and allow their seats to be replaced by 40-year old wingnuts hand-selected from the worst the Federalist Society has to offer. SCOTUS is gone for the next generation at least. There is very little prospect of it being ever fixed in the foreseeable future.

Trump will never face a scintilla of consequences for his previous crimes; all the open federal cases will be closed as soon as he takes office and fires Jack Smith. The best we can hope for is that he dies in office, but then we get Vance and the cadre of alt-right techno billionaires ruled directly from the Kremlin. Putin is celebrating this morning and with good reason; he's gotten everything he wants. Trump will egg on Netanyahu in Gaza and abandon Ukraine. Democracy across the world will remain even more fragile and badly under threat. Authoritarians will be empowered and American withdrawal from international systems will percolate in very dangerous ways that cannot and will not be fixed in the short run. I really hope all the leftists who celebrate this as the "defeat of the genocide candidate" will enjoy all the genocide and suffering that's about to come. And yes, I do think the Israel-Palestine war fucked us in a large way. Jewish voters perceived the Democrats as insufficiently pro-Israel due to the presence of far-left antisemitism, even as the far left attacked the Democrats relentlessly and never targeted the Republicans. Arab voters abandoned them, possibly deservedly. What would have happened without the war? We don't know. You get the historical period that you get. Netanyahu and Trump can now do anything they want. Hope it was worth it.

As I said, I can't sugarcoat it. We are going to be paying for this in some form for the next decade, and probably longer. I'm not as absolutely shattered as I was in 2016, but I am much, much angrier. We all thought, we all hoped, America was better than this. It isn't. That, however, is something that has also happened before. What we decide to do next will shape how the next chapter unfolds.

This would be a great time to stock up on needed medicines, renew your passport online, and anything else you need to do in preparation for next year. Many of us simply do not have the wherewithal, whether financial or otherwise, to leave the country. I don't know what will happen with me. I don't know what will happen to any of us. This was utterly avoidable and yet, America didn't want to avoid it. At some point, there's nothing else you can do. You can point to media cronyism, Russian influence, etc etc., but the fact that two of the most qualified presidential candidates who happened to be women have now lost to Trump twice makes it unavoidable. The virulent rightward shift of young men (of all races) in particular paints a grim picture as to how the reactionary misogyny of the 21st century is going to essentially undo most of the progress for social and gender equality in the 20th. The patriarchy has been a problem for most of human history. Doesn't really seem like it's going to change.

The end result of this, however grim: we're still here. We are still living within our communities. If (and this is a big if) Democrats can retake the House, they can put some checks on the process for the next two years. At this point, we are in full-out buying-time, trying-to-prevent-the worst mode. We could have continued fixing things, but we won't be doing that. We will only be trying to preserve ourselves and our friends and our smaller spheres of influence. It sounds very trite to say that we have to have courage, but we do. There's not much else.

It's going to be an awful winter. We have two and a half months to see this coming and know how bad it's going to be, and... yeah. I don't know how soon the buyer's remorse will inevitably set in, but it will. Tough luck, people. You voted for him. You get the country that you decide to have. But the rest of us are also here, and what Gandalf says is still true. We wish the Ring had never come to us, we wish none of this had happened, but we still have to decide what to do with the time that is given to us.

I don't have a lot more. I'll probably be logging off for a while. I don't need to look at the internet for.... yeah, a long time. (Will I do it anyway? Probably.) I don't know what else to leave you with, aside from again:

Do not obey in advance. Do not act as if everything is foreordained and set in stone. Fascist regimes end. They always do. We are going to have to figure out how, and it will suck shit, but the alternative is worse.

Take care of yourselves. I love you.

[anexperimentallife]

So you want leftist candidates? Here's how you get them:

First off, you have to understand that the far right didn't just wake up one day and say, "We should fuck up the country!" They have been OPENLY working for decades to fill literally every elected or appointed government position they could with Christian Dominionists and other right-wingers, and these folks show up to the polls EVERY SINGLE TIME.

When I was a kid in a far right church in the 1960s, they openly discussed how important is was to get their people into office who would help pass legislation to persecute/imprison/kill anyone who didn't follow their religion. If there's no one sufficiently right-wing running, they'll vote for whomever is closest, even if it gags them. And I cannot emphasize enough that they have long term goals that they are willing to take--and HAVE taken--generations to achieve.

The overturning of Roe v. Wade, for example, is a DIRECT RESULT of the decades-long effort by the far right to boost the most far-right-leaning candidates they could find. They've been talking for decades SPECIFICALLY about getting enough far right judges in SCOTUS to overturn Roe v. Wade. And these SCOTUS appointments are for LIFE, so these judges get to set policy for your GRANDCHILDREN.

So yes, the overturning of Roe v. Wade was only made possible because Trump was able to appoint three SCOTUS judges, in addition to all the other federal judges he appointed. Amd they're talking about going after same-sex marriage, minority rights, etc.

(Hell, the judge in charge of his secret documents case is one that he appointed--she has indefinitely postponed that case,by the way.)

And you don't think local school board elections are important? Have you not seen the news about all the anti-queer policies, and all the book-bannings? This, also, has a generational effect.

Meanwhile the left refuses to turn up to the polls because none of the candidates are pure enough. So guess why things are getting worse?

If the Left turned out for the most left-leaning candidate at EVERY SINGLE ELECTION, whether local or state or whatever, including primaries, we'd start seeing more leftist candidates. Yes, that means that if there's a choice between two extreme right wing candidates, you vote for the least extreme one.

I know I keep emphasizing that this is not just about POTUS, but POTUS does figure in, of course (among other things, who do you think appoints judges for congress to approve?).

So swallow this pill: Anything shitty Biden is doing, the shitgibbon will do MORE of.

"Not gonna vote Biden because he supports genocide, so I'd rather the guy win who ALSO supports genocide, wants Russia to invade more countries, thinks it's fine if China retakes Taiwan, wants a nationwide abortion ban, removal of civil rights for minorities, wants to overturn same-sex marriage (which the right-leaning majority in SCOTUS are already talking about), to cut back the role of congress in checking executive actions (including workarounds to avoid the need for congressional confirmation for presidential appointees), to remove federal employee protections so federal personnel can be replaced with Trump loyalists, and so on! That'll teach those Dems a lesson! THEN they'll be sorry. And fuck everyone the bad guys hurt, because I'll still be PURE. So what if top GOP officials want to actually NUKE Gaza?"

That's fucking kindergartner thinking.

Yes, Biden is a piece of shit, but I am not waxing at all hyperbolic when I say that a second orange shitgibbon term, with a far-right-majority SCOTUS--especially if the GOP manages majorities in both houses of congress--may be the end of what little is left of Democracy in the US. Not gonna argue about it, because I don't waste my time with petulant children.

Look at the GOP's plans for a Republican administration, and tell me you think it sounds better than another term of Biden. Hell, they've even set up online trainings and loyalty tests to narrow down potential federal hires to those who will commit to follow Trump without question.

I repeat: If you want more leftist candidates, if you want more worker power, if you want billionaires taxed, if you want to protect minorities and the queer community, you have to adopt the strategy that the right has used, educate yourself about what candidates stand for, and show up EVERY SINGLE TIME. Again, that includes primaries.

So many of us on the left would rather sit in the basement dreaming of some magical revolution that's going to fix everything, giving ourselves and others purity tests, and proudly announcing that we're... boycotting democracy by not voting(?), "because none of the candidates are a good choice."

Yeah, the left refusing to vote--or only voting in presidential elections--while the right turns up every time is exactly how we got here.

And you have to support the most left-leaning candidate even if it makes you gag, and even if "most left-leaning" means "not as openly fascist." This is the ONLY way you can be assured of candidates getting further to the left in the future. (Note that this means learning about your local candidates.)

"But voting won't fix--" I never said it was going to fix everything. There's no rule that if you vote, you can't volunteer with Food Not Bombs, or run for school board, or demonstrate, or circulate petitions. It takes more than voting, but voting has to be PART of our strategy.

You also have to accept that it may take decades to change course, and that you're not going to like every candidate you have to vote for.

The right didn't just magically get the orange shitgibbon into office overnight. It took decades of work. And if we want decent human beings in charge, we have to be willing to do the same.

[yeoldenews]

I don't know how much you think about it, but you wrote a post back in Mar 2020:

"A sincere request from someone who has spent her entire adult life wishing people had kept better records…In the coming weeks and months… RECORD WHAT IS HAPPENING."

That post got me to start properly journaling properly, after trying and failing when I was younger. A majority of it is 'just' day-to-day progress updates on my fiction writing, but there's a bit of stuff about my life, and some briefer stuff about the world beyond. Not a lot, but some. Four (and change) years, and my journal is just short of 186K words.

I remembered your post, seeing today's SCOTUS decisions. I remembered your post, and I remembered a line you'd written: "Are you scared to death? Write it down."

I just...I don't know. I just wanted you to know your post made an impact, and I don't know what the fuck is coming over the next week and month and year and decade, but...I'm writing shit down. I'm writing shit down, and it's all because of your post.

You have no idea how much this means to me, and how badly I needed to hear it this week - so thank you. Truly. I am genuinely moved, and so proud of you for your 186k words.

History is made up of the stories people decided to save - and the first step to making sure a story gets saved is writing it down.

I really, really hate writing. Like more than just about anything. I'm a chronic perfectionist, and it can take me a whole afternoon to finish a single paragraph I'm satisfied with. (I spent three days writing this response, and you don't even want to know how long I spend on some of the things I post.) So keeping a journal is not a task I'd ever felt the need to afflict myself with before the pandemic. When I made the post you referenced, my journaling habit was all of ten days old but, against all the odds, here I am over four years later having never (to my recollection) missed a single day.

My daily records of what my cats are doing, and your day-to-day writing progress may not be extensively poured over by future scholars, but for only a few minutes of effort a day we now have recorded hundreds of stories.

And who knows what the people of the future might find fascinating. I'm sure the teenage girl in Philadelphia who smudged the letter she was writing in 1897 because a bee scared her would be absolutely baffled that thousands of people were still laughing about the incident 125 years later.

So much of history, and life in general, doesn't become clear until long after the fact. Historical records are full of people overreacting about events that ended up having very little significance in hindsight, and under-reacting about events they no had no idea were about to change the world. But being able to go back and see what people wrote in the moment, preserving their honest thoughts and hopes and fears, is about as close as you can get to time travel.

Maybe what we fear will come true and we're recording history, maybe we'll look back on what we wrote today and go "phew! that was a close one!", or maybe nothing will come of it at all - I pray it will be the last one, but, whatever the outcome, it's worth writing down.

(Also voting. Please, please vote.)

[whatbigotspost]

Our 2 party system is corrupt and upsetting. I get that the democrat party stays trash AND I’m fucking thrilled and shocked they’re actually shaking things up like never before.

I know Biden has done horrific things AND he actually is commendable for EVENTUALLY listening and making this choice (at the last minute.) Who has ever done similar (hint: no one.)

I understand Kamala is a cop AND I’m still voting for her, no question. Not even flinching.

I understand she is too like Genocide Joe on many many issues that I deeply disagree with AND I’m fucking delighted the republicans entire 2024 election playbook (“our guy is LESS demented and decrepit!!!!”) is now embarrassing irrelevant and easily weaponizable back at them.

I wasn’t gonna watch any fucking debates or really any election anythings, bc what would I possibly learn that would be of any value?

But now I’m absolutely giddy to watch someone who is (no matter what you think of her politics) CLEARLY at the top of her “talking off the cuff” game and she will run verbal circles around the lumbering fool the Christo fascists are propping up as their meat puppet Trojan horse for Project 2025.

I was always going to vote blue nose-hold bc I understand that is one of the very very few levers that is clearly, obviously in front of me that I have within my personal power to pull against fascism.

I’d like elections to still exist. And our elections aren’t perfect, our systems are fucked, I hate parties, I hate the electoral college, I hate SCOTUS and honestly I hate 99% of politicians writ large AND the demoralizing experience that is voting as a leftist in Texas sure just got a lot less deflating and empty feeling.

The republicans really were gonna ride the boost off of a fucking an assassination attempt to the White House and the dems looked like they were really gonna let them…

AND THEN THEY DIDN’T.

It doesn’t change everything but it changes SOMETHING. Everyone else has already said all the great analogies about voting in the US��it’s choosing a bus ticket, not marrying the candidate, yadda yadda yadda. My bigger point here is that things at least are more interesting and less “over before it’s over.”

Abandon all or nothing thinking in your politics. It will serve you very little.

If you’re curious about a very good review of what has happened (as of Sunday), how it’s possible in US electoral structures that the dem nominee can switch like this, this is a helpful, fact-based non-partisan overview.

[princess-nell]

To my fellow Americans: I am scared. I am scared of what could happen to everyone, but I am also personally scared of what will happen to me if Trump is elected. You see, I live with multiple disabling chronic diseases. Thanks to Obamacare and disability benefits I am able to survive and have something of a life. It’s a huge struggle, but it’s worth living. If Trump is elected, that’s all gone. Obamacare will be destroyed, god knows what will happen to disability benefits, and many people who have been able to make it will no longer be able to. Our healthcare system is bad, but it used to be so much worse and we will lose any hope of it improving. So if nothing else, think of that. A lot of people will lose their ability to function with chronic illness and/or disabilities. It’s a horrible fate.

We live in a country that pretends to be great while being deeply fucked up. The real reason for that is an antiquated constitution that forces us to deal with the electoral college, the deeply unfair structure of the Senate, the gerrymandered House, and the SCOTUS that has ended up stocked with fascists thanks to the President and Senate being controlled by the minority much of the time in past decades. We have to face the fact that we’re fighting just to avoid an authoritarian dictatorship, much less make real change. In 2016, people stayed home or voted third party because Hillary Clinton wasn’t their perfect candidate. The result was Trump and death and destruction and the appointment of three SCOTUS justices that have been able to make significant progress towards destroying human rights. And you know, the perfect candidate doesn’t exist, especially in this system. Because of the electoral college, it’s very hard to get a left wing candidate in there because it’s not enough just to win the popular vote. If Trump wins this time, it will be worse. No matter what you’re worried about, it will go from bad to much worse. We will lose all ability to fight injustice, no matter how futile that fight might seem at times. He will be able to appoint two more SCOTUS justices (because Thomas and Alito will retire) and then we’re really screwed.

So please consider that your vote will protect vulnerable people, for what that’s worth. And I’m telling you, no matter who you are, you are vulnerable. You may not feel vulnerable right now, but life happens and I assure you that you or someone you love will be eventually. Maybe sooner than you think.

Please vote Blue, and let us live to fight another day. Sometimes that’s all you have, but it’s a valuable thing.

[hero-israel]

Hey there! I hope its alright to say this as a gentile, but something I've noticed is that calling out antisemitism against Israelis in particular (but honestly. Its extending to all Jewish people now.) with 'Antisemitism' is getting incredibly ineffective. Its a word that's really really easy for us to just brush off since it carries little to no personal weight, has been painted in this conflict as a way to 'excuse colonialism/genocide', and just serves as another way to dehumanize and Other Jews. And there's also that thing with 'but x is Semetic too!'

Would recommend for the moment when you're arguing with antisemites directly to just call them a fucking racist.

It gets through to antisemitic leftists better as they'll otherwise never consider antisemitism equivalent to racism yet have some experience identifying internal racist biases and is applicable in pretty much all cases antisemitism is. And for Israelis especially. As one example, its kinda racist as hell to tell what is honestly a nation of refugees (And they ALWAYS ignore the 900,000 Mizrahi displaced at the same time as the Nakba) to go back to where they came from. And why ignore that the people they're advocating immediate land back for is making it very violently clear they will not accept their presence there in the slightest. They're as human and intelligent as anyone else. Yet they're treated like infantile but noble savages who don't know what they're doing. While this doesn't apply when talking about West Bank settlers, its pretty much never restricted to just them.

And I guess as a bonus, since Jewish people have been labeled '''White''' recently, the usual argument would be saying you can't be reverse racist. Good fucking luck using that against Jews lmao.

Anyway apologies if I overstepped with this! I have no idea if there's a connection to using Antisemitism that I'm missing, it was just getting really frustrating to see peoples eyes basically glaze over when it starts getting brought up

The racism of their hatred of Israel and nearly all Jews - and the racialized bent to their alt-histories and conspiracy theories - is undeniable. I've certainly used that word in this context many times. However, just as antisemitism isn't a magic, you-win word, neither is racism, as the type of leftist who would say something like this in the first place usually believes that there is no ethnic composition to Jews at all, that it is purely a religion - and as they are invariably culturally-Christian atheists, they think anyone who perceives a problem in how they are treated because of their religion can solve that problem by dropping the religion and becoming "normal," like themselves.

Yes, it can be effective, but don't expect too much from it. As the Facebook forward says, we can't assume there is any magic word that makes our enemies admit they were wrong, trying to catch Mitch McConnell in hypocrisy over SCOTUS seats is a fool's errand because he will never stop doing what he is doing.

Thank you for writing!

[poetry-protest-pornography]

we're fucked

I'm actively choosing to not fall to the doomerism, because if I don't i don't thinki could function.

I understand the fear and the feeling of defeat, it is easy to be overwhelmed by it all -- all the things that are objectively awful and scary and infuriating, and there's no shortage of them -- but if we give up, then that's it. That's when we're fucked.

If kosa gets through, there will be challenges, there will be lawsuits, there will be public condemnation; we can't give up and give into despair.

And I know it's hard and it's rage-inducing and it's deeply unfair, but we gotta keep going.

And we really really really need to vote.

The dem platform includes SCOTUS reform and restructuring, and we desperately need that to happen. And that can only happen if we get a dem majority in Congress. If we want a Court that will listen to those challenges, we need reform now.

And if we want to try to stop it before then, we need to keep rallying.

And then, we vote in November.

All of us.

Even if you're stuck in a feedback loop of "this sucks, we're fucked, we're fucked, goddamnit", vote. Because that's how we go from "we're fucked" to "okay, there's hope".

I'm sorry you're in that loop, I hope you can find some moments to focus on getting out of it, but give yourself time to be angry, too.

Holding onto hope by my fingernails, but still holding on. I'll hold on a little tighter until you can get there, too.

xo, r

[rangikuxmatsumoto]

It’s already been said, but god, are we fucked.

My string of consciousness from behind tears in under the cut. It is heavy, so if you aren’t of the right mindset right now, please don’t read but I need to get these thoughts off my mind.

Yesterday morning, I cried – a mix of anxious fear and also of hope. I’m 35 years old, my first presidential election that I could vote in was in 2008, Obama’s first term. I still remember the hope.

I remember 2012, and 2016. I wish I didn’t remember 2016. How disappointed I was in the people of this country then. I remember the anger and the rage felt by my fellow democrats, by my fellow women. I told myself I’d fight, I’d always fight, but I was 27 then, younger, not yet worn down from years that were to follow.

Then there was 2020. I thought we saw the light, learned from our mistake. I remember the joy, watching people dance in fountains and pop bottles of champagne on Tiktok in Chicago and New York.

Then came January 6th. My sister messaged me over chat during work “Go turn on your TV”, I watched in real time to events of January 6th. How could our country come to this? Believe me, I’ve never been a “USA USA” chanting type person, outside of the Olympics, this country has flaws, we aren’t perfect. But we have been a beacon of hope to the world – I’m afraid we’re now a beacon of the end. I always believed the notion of “Those who do not learn history are damned to repeat it” and clearly y’all missed a lot of history classes.

Yesterday, I cried.

I cried when I went to bed at around 10:30 PM EST, I wasn’t trying to look at the election results. I couldn’t, because I felt sick to my stomach. I always know the South is going to go red, there’s no helping those shithole states – I say this living in North Carolina, the first swing state to fall red. On the bright side, we did keep a democratic governor and attorney general. Still, I once had hope that North Carolina would fall blue even by the slimmest of margins, that Georgia would stay blue. But no.

I woke up around 1:11 AM, the results hadn’t been called yet, but one story was on my phone “Harris won’t address supporters” and with it a picture of a grown man, face buried in his palms, crying. The blurry faces behind him, all in tears.

I cried then as well. Face buried in my pillow, trying to stay quiet.

Some might say “It’s just 4 years” it’s not. The ramifications of what happens in these next four years are far reaching, two potential Supreme Court seats may open and with a super conservative majority. The average length of a SCOTUS position, 22.7 years. So, it’s not 4 years. Meaning that the rest of my life, I can be affected by those rules – and they will come.

I cried this morning. They aren’t the body wrecking sobs that I feel because I’m just so tired of this shit. God, not to go on the Millennial rant here but can I stop having to face these world shifting events? We lived through 9/11, The Iraq War, the Great Recession, the list goes on and on – I’m fucking tired of it.

And today, I having to come to terms with what the next four plus years will be. What I stand to lose, and I’ve already lost.

The worst part of this is the one thought that has stuck with me. It wasn’t “I need to keep fighting” it’s I’m too tired to fight. I guess, it’s best said, “They’ll never take me alive” because all I thought about was killing myself. Ending it. I’ve never had these thoughts before, not seriously. Sure I’ve been depressed before, but not to the point I haven’t been able to push away the “I want to die” thought.

It might be better if I did. I know it’s just the depression speaking, that I’ll wake up tomorrow still depressed but not wanting to die. And in a couple days, I’ll still be depressed but the anger will set it. It’s different stages of grief, maybe not in the right order and I don’t think I’ll ever come to acceptance but I’ll get somewhere.

There is another thought that is lingering behind that “I wanna kill myself” one, of “fuck around and find out” – you see, I may be fine in 4 years, certainly won’t be better but I could be fine. But those stupid fucks that voted Republican that are single incomes, living paycheck to paycheck, ohhhh they’re about to get a rude fucking awakening. And I’m going to fucking love to see it.

But for now, I need some space, some time, I’m going to cry a lot. I may not be too talkative on Discord or here.

[vintageseawitch]

happy Labor Day! just a reminder that it was leftists who got us the weekend. it's leftists who give us unions & keep them strong.

the federal minimum wage hasn't risen from $7.25 in well over a decade. the main culprit? Republicans of course, & too many people that are in a union are Republican.

Republicans HATE unions nowadays. rich people are so far up their asses they've become living meat puppets for them. rich people don't care about a happy population; they want to get rich at our expense. people blame the president for the high cost of living, such as groceries, when this is actually a global issue & companies have openly stated they were the ones who were price gouging.

it's rich people behind the scenes & they're a massive reason why Project 2025 is a real threat. they want to take away 40 hour work weeks & turn them into 160 hours work months. they will take away the right to get paid for working overtime (page 592). they want to ban unions for public service workers (page 82), make it easier for private companies to decertify unions (page 603), & allow states to opt out of federal labor laws (page 605).

a SCOTUS justice (Thomas) has expressed they he thinks OSHA needs to go. some states like Arkansas have allowed child labor with limited safety & legal measures. they want to take away so many workers' rights that have been so hard fought for & earned. OSHA became a thing because of so much bloodshed. people are going to die from these but it's okay because these rich people who do so much for us will be getting paid more while not being required to even pretend we are human beings.

are you gonna be like the rednecks of old? who gave such a shit for their fellow workers that they literally fought to protect them all? do you really believe rich people are good for us? they don't care at all. they need us more then we need them. even with their power, they're scared in the back of their pathetic little greedy minds. they exhaust us on purpose. Project 2025 is going to make so many aspects of our lives hell & they will not only do nothing about the conditions now to improve our way of life but they fully intend to make it WORSE.

they will force people to stay married & make babies they can't afford while offering no help whatsoever. they want working conditions to be lethal again. they want us to be wage slaves. how can anyone want this? you think it's horrible now? why risk this??

please don't stop talking about Project 2025 or Agenda 47. they're the same plan & the reason why trump doesn't talk about policy is because Project 2025 IS his policy. he's only in this to stay out of prison. he doesn't give a shit what kind of evil, insane people will be doing in the background to fuck us all over. the rest of the world is watching us nervously, hoping he won't be president again. it won't ve good on a domestic OR international level. this is a dangerous time.

please check your registration status often & vote early if you can. encourage friends & family. make a day of it! don't wait until three last minute but be careful out there, too. if it's not voting issues they'll cause people might get violent. ladies, if you're with a Republican partner but you're scared to vote for Harris... please know that your vote is private & you can pretend you're doing something else in order to get it done. stay registered Republican just to be safe. we got this 💙

[pepperstrawberry]

Pepper Rant

I'm sorry. I hate being negative. I... I'm having a hard time right now. Its been building all week. (I tried to figure out how to put a 'cut/readmore', but it seems a lot has changed with formatting since I last created a full post of my own that required more then a few quick images and text)

I know I don't post much on here, or at least no where near my old consistancy... but I am pretty happy I still see some familiar names float across my dash.

Though, right now, it feels like... like I'm lost. Trying to figure out someone to commiserate with, but I kinda don't want to burden folks and I can't remember which of the discords I'm on have spots for political rambles.

Most of my biggest fears are probably going to be very obvious.

November 8 2016, I remember being in a discord chat at the time. All the mods were off for one reason or another. Some folks were freaking out. Some weren't. This was an LGBT focused discord, so the fact that some folks were thinking things would be fine was a bit concerning. I had to use my minis to drown folks out, reminding folks that the discord in question had a specific space for that sort of topic and the main channel we were in need to be a space for just breathing. It was... a rough night for everyone I think.

Over the course of the next year plus, I would often say things like 'this feels like the sort of thing you see in history books around mid 20s - early 30s of Gernany. I wasn't sure how much I was speaking in hyperbole and how much was 1000% serious, but I do know I was leaning toward the later.

Now... here we are, on the cusp of another election, the same bastard moving for power. And I honestly feel more then ever I was at least close to the reality. It wasn't 1 to 1, mind. but it was... familiar enough.

With already some extremely disturbing actions by the SCOTUS and the like mouths before the vote is upon us gives me some chilling fears.

The unparalleled power the position of President now has is... not something to take lightly. And this time, its not a bumbling idiot that is going to be lost at how the job even works.

mind you, he is still a fool. He is still the same self centered piece of garbage. But this time, he has a team behind him already setting a lot of very very disturbing things in motion.

The 'Immunity' decision has basically cemented a path to getting everything they want. Not a little, but a lot.

I don't have the mental strength or energy. All I can feel is a tingling fear in my nerves that is slowly building. A reality I want to wake up from.

And the worst of it is: even if the Biden wins, that is *at best* a holding pattern. That guy isn't much better. Maybe he turned around several things Trump did, but it hasn't really felt like we have moved forward to anything better.

Unless something is *somehow* done about the Immunity decision, among others, then we are just going to be facing this nightmare again in the next election.

Honestly, I am not liking how next year is looking in either case. I would move out of country, but I don't even know which place would be best to run to, nor am I in nearly as 'stable' financially as I was even just a year ago.

I'm sorry, I used to keep my politic stuff on a separate tumblr... but honestly, fuck that. Things are just too fucked. I don't know how to keep my thoughts separate anymore.

I know for many across the world, what I fear is already their reality. It makes this whole mess feel even worse. I know there is good in this world. Good people and good places... but I feel like everyone I know is so spread out. Even my closest friends (aside from a couple of family members and my girlfriend) are miles away at the least and states or even countries away at most. So even if I were to find a place to run to, its going to be... difficult.

No this isn't a plea for cash or anything. At least not yet. Just right now, I need to get it out of my system on some level. Even if it ends up as 'not as bad as I fear', the fact is, it is still going to be horrible for many of us. I thought that at least the Senate and SCOTUS would at least provide a *little* barrier to the plans of that bastard and his allies. But that barrier no longer exists. I don't know what is going to stand against him doing most of not all they are planning.

Tonight, as I right this, there are still fireworks popping off. A night that was supposed to celebrate independence from a King...

I fear next year, they will be celebrating a new king... and they may not even be simulated.

[qqueenofhades]

I just feel like even if we all vote and Biden wins, Trump won't accept the loss, and eventually they'll just put him in anyway. And then there won't be another real election. Even if Biden wins and somehow is actually confirmed (which again, I think is unlikely) we're going to have to do this for 30 more years because of the SC, and that isn't at all sustainable.

All this isn't to say I won't vote but I just think people are being way too optimistic about what happens if Biden wins. I don't think him winning will keep Trump out or the horrible fascist future at bay.

Look, I get the fear. I do, I do... but this is also one of the times when you have to ask if it's actually telling you something true, or if it's just preying on that generalized feeling of doom to make everything seem hopeless even if we win again. And that is... there is absolutely no actual mechanism for Trump to be installed as president if Biden wins the Electoral College (since as we have repeatedly seen, the popular vote is immaterial). SCOTUS is horrible and evil and are trying to interfere as much ahead of time for Trump as they can, but part of that is because they can't simply issue an order for Biden to be removed and Trump to become God King By Fiat. That is not how it works. If Biden wins in November, he will be president until his term ends, he steps down, Kamala takes over, or anything else.

Trump tried a coup with all the entire overwhelming might of the US government as the sitting president last time; fortunately, it failed. Reforms to the Electoral Count Act have been made to prevent another January 6. The Department of Defense and the military are still under (and would be on another January 6) Biden's command, not Trump's. That's not to say that Trump won't try some shit with his insane cult followers, but he is just a late 70s conman from Queens out on bail and under sentence for a criminal trial, who is already the biggest and most disgraced loser and asshole in American political history. He is so desperate to cheat his way back into power because in a real sense, this IS the last-chance saloon for him. He can't put off the legal proceedings, however long they take, for another four years. He's losing his marbles at a rapid rate. I'm just saying: we don't know what or when, but there will be (and already have been) real consequences for him. That is why he is scrabbling so hard.

"Even if we vote, nothing matters and Trump will win anyway" is another of those insidious lies that works to make you feel as if the battle is endless and pointless and none of its victories matter. Of course it will not all be magically fixed forever if Biden wins. We will still have to figure some godforsaken fucking way to expand SCOTUS or kick Alito and Thomas off it. But we will have bought ourselves, our democracy, our country, and the world time to do that, and put another nail in Trump's coffin. That matters. It matters a lot.

Fascism wants to present itself as overwhelming, irresistible, inevitable, and ready to happen no matter what you do, and that's what your brain wants you to buy in now. But that's not the case, Trump is not inevitable or some all-powerful monolith (in fact, another of the debate takeaways seemed to be that Biden looked bad but people still hate Trump too much for it to really shift anything). He is a loser, a fraud, a conman, a liar, and a crook, and he WANTS you to fear him like an almighty god. Don't give him or the MAGAGOP the satisfaction.

Frankly, having to endure another four months of this might kill us all, and I know that we are tired and scared (me too). But IT IS NOT INEVITABLE THAT WE ARE DOOMED. Not at all. Let's hang onto that and tell that anxiety doom voice to shove it.

Hugs.

[anexperimentallife]

A few things you should know about shitty US electoral politics (long post)

Neither party gives a fuck about you, and the leadership of BOTH parties support the genocide in Gaza, but you already knew that.

HOWEVER, various prominent GOP figures ALSO supported a right-wing domestic coup attempt, want to ban abortion nationwide (overturning Roe v Wade was a step along the way to that), want draconian restrictions on birth control, to ban same-sex marriage, ban sex education, ban any and all queer-positive literature, want to "phase out" social security and medicare, to completely rewrite US history textbooks nationwide with a nationalist agenda that erases US crimes against non-white peoples (already done in some states), allow US law enforcement to stop anyone darker than mayonnaise and demand to see their papers, start a nuclear war, abolish the minimum wage, outlaw their political rivals, weaponize the justice department, FBI, and other federal agencies against their political rivals, outlaw dissent of any kind, and remove restrictions against using US troops against US citizens (see Tuberville's blocking of top military appointees so that a future GOP president can appoint GOP/Trump loyalists to those positions, the way they blocked judicial/SCOTUS nominees in order to get Roe v Wade overturned).

The GOP openly states that they know the only way they win elections is by keeping non-right-wing voters away from the polls, and they invest heavily in, among other things, online psyops to convince people not to vote. And it works, because right wing voters ALWAYS show up to the polls.

Every time a right wing candidate wins, Dem leadership goes, "Huh, I guess we need to field more conservative candidates if we want to win elections." The idea being that if they can somehow "meet in the middle," they'll get the conservative vote. (Hint: They won't.)

So what convinces the Dems to run more progressive candidates? Overwhelming support at the ballot box for leftist candidates on the local and primary levels--school board elections, senators and representatives at the state and federal level, sheriffs, judges, mayoral and city council races, and various other local and regional elected positions. That's it. The only two things they understand are money and winning.

Whomever wins the presidency and gets enough congressional support gets to appoint federal and supreme court judges, top military officials, and various other decision-makers. THIS IS HOW THE GOP WAS ABLE TO OVERTURN ROE V WADE.

The US can't be fixed in a single election cycle. Every cycle in which the GOP wins, however, pushes the Dems further to the right AND allows the GOP more power to enact their vision.

Yes, we need viable third parties. Unfortunately, barring a miracle, third parties and independents are right now viable only in some local, and possibly a few congressional races.

In order for third parties to be viable for things like presidential elections, we're most likely going to need ranked choice voting--which, again, we may eventually get by pushing progressive candidates at the state and local level--publicly-funded elections, the abolition of the electoral college (both Bush and Trump lost the popular vote, and were only awarded victory because of the electoral college), and the repeal of Citizens United (which essentially legalized large-scale corporate bribery of candidates).

Look, we all hate Biden, and refusing to vote for him (or whatever other shitbag candidate the Dems run) might feel good, but it is also likely to result in a GOP win--which means MORE support for genocide the world over, and the GOP gaining more power to enact their wish list, which I partially enumerated above.

How many people do you think will die under a nationwide abortion ban? How do you think it's going to work out if a far-right president has the authority to unleash US troops on protesters? How many seniors and disabled folks do you think will suffer and die if Social Security and Medicare are abolished? How many will suffer and die if Trump gets his wet dream of a nuclear war?

I mean, the US has already bombed its own people for not toeing the capitalist/white supremacist line, sponsored coups against foreign leaders and replaced them with dictators, and invaded or threatened to invade foreign countries for not bowing to US corporate interests (look up the origins of the term "banana republic," "overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom," and "1953 Iran coup," for just a few examples), experimented on US citizens without their knowledge (look up "tuskegee syphilus study," among many other things) and so on, and so on.

And if the GOP gains control of all three branches of government, it's going to get even worse.

Today's GOP is more rabidly extremist than at any other time in my life. And as I said, I'm OLD, dude. I was born the year Kennedy was assassinated. Among my early memories are watching the first lunar landing, watching Nixon's "I am not a crook" speech, and seeing news footage of the US withdrawal from Vietnam. And I'm telling you, today's GOP makes the GOP of my youth look practically benign in comparison.

I used to roll my eyes at the refrain of, "this is the most important election of your life," and the "blue no matter who" folks, but man... The 2016 election really WAS the most important, but only SO FAR.

Because the GOP--due to the facts that GOP/Trump supporters voted, and many others didn't--will most likely control the Supreme Court for DECADES to come, and currently control the Senate. If they gain the presidency, retain control of the Senate, and take control of the House, all may be lost.

Again, the far right openly states that keeping non-conservatives from voting is how they win, and they invest a lot in gerrymandering, voter roll purges, and online psyops to make that happen. Doing exactly what the fash want "but for leftist/progressive reasons" isn't the own you think it is. Funny--I hear the same folks who mock far right voters for voting against their own best interests say they're "protesting" by refusing to vote--when that's exactly how the far right wins.

Look, I'm old. I was planning to live my final years outside the US, eventually immigrating to the Republic of Ireland or Uruguay or somewhere like that, but now that I have a child, I'm being forced to return to the US for at least a few years so I can use my medical benefits to live long enough to see her grow up. If she ever needs an abortion, or birth control, or to fight a discrimination or sexual harassment case, or simply to speak her mind without fear of being arrested or killed for it, or needs social security or Medicare because of a disability, I want her to have those things.

Another argument I've heard is that, "Voting doesn't change anything." Well, when I was a kid, mixed-race marriages were FINALLY legalized across the US, and schools became multiracial. More recently, same-sex marriage was made the law of the land. Conservatives fought all of those things, but voting made them happen.

On the flip side, thanks to the far right takeover of SCOTUS, Roe v Wade was overturned as an end result of the far right winning elections. (And again, this is just part one of their plan for a nationwide abortion ban.)

So don't look at it as voting FOR whatever shitbag the Dems run; look at it as voting AGAINST a full-on right-wing takeover of the US and buying time to make some fundamental changes. Voting doesn't mean you can't ALSO march, etc.

Or I mean, if you want a nationwide abortion ban, a nuclear war, MORE genocide, and all the other stuff of right-wing wet dreams, and want a far right takeover of the US while you tell yourself, "Yeah, but I maintained my moral purity," then by all means withhold your vote. Just don't delude yourself about the outcome.

[queervegancryptid]

I really can't believe this happened. I worked so hard just to survive this long, and I really let myself hope. Under the cut just because this got long.

I don't mean to say I'm mad that my preferred candidate didn't win, although I am mad about that because of what the guy who won has done and promises to do in the coming years.

I'm disgusted and disappointed in my country in a way I never thought I would be. To me, that's been the real gut-punch. I was prepared to be angry and frustrated and worried. I was prepared for the electoral college to give it to him, or for SCOTUS or Congress to hand it to him, or for there to be shenanigans after the election like there were last time he was in office.

I was not prepared to confront the fact that he might win and that we'd know in less than 24 hours. That he would win the popular vote in addition to the electoral college. That's what really gets me about all this. I thought we were better than this. I feel like he cheated, but we'll probably never know.

And I think believing he cheated is my brain's way of grasping at straws, trying to rationalize or explain things somehow. Because that makes more sense than trying to wrap my head around the idea that he won legitimately. That a majority of voters hate women and Black women in particular so much they'd rather have a fascist windbag who admires Hitler and has a boner for Putin. Fuck out of here with that bullshit.

But that does seem to be reality. So I have no choice but to figure out a plan to handle it. I don't know what that looks like yet, but I'm probably not going to be safe in the state of Florida anymore.

And I'm done pulling punches on social media. Anybody on my feed posting shit like "we can disagree and still be friends because I'm a mature adult," implying that anybody who's upset about the situation is just being a whiny pissbaby and needs to stop being dramatic, is getting told about themselves.

I'm not framing it as a personal attack. I'm just going, "look, you may not realize how you sound." Tactfully, I mean. And it worked in at least one case; a girl I went to high school with posted something like that, and I let her have it. But I made it clear that I wasn't attacking her, just illustrating how things like this make people feel right now.

Turns out, one of her sons is bi and trans, a teenager, and she's getting herself educated on gender-affirming care and doing her best to support him. What I said got her attention, so she decided to take the post down because "if it makes [me] uncomfortable, it probably would make [her] son feel uncomfortable, too." She didn't vote for Trump, and I didn't assume anything one way or the other, and I made that clear, too.

Basically, I was confrontational without being a dick or assuming she had malicious intentions or anything else about her. And it started a conversation. Maybe I can give her some advice or suggestions for how she can help her son. She's my age, and we grew up in the same rural town, but I got out and went to college. I got lucky. And I learned a lot about myself and had to educate myself on being trans, among many other things. She might have questions I could answer. This is good. I'm not responding today, because I just can't right now, but the point is, sometimes people really don't know how they're coming across right now. So don't just assume anything. But don't take any shit, either.

Now I'm making myself sad wondering if he'll ever get to go to pride. I never was able to. Now maybe neither of us ever will.

This is fucking hard. I've never been scared like this before. I don't know what to do.

[thepolyamorouspolymath]

So I mentioned the examples of Thomas Becket and David Souter here before as times that men rose to their offices in shocking ways in opposition of evil.

I'm back for a bit more practical analysis that you may find some solace in after seeing the nominees for Cabinet and agency heads.

These people are morons. Not only are they morons but they are morons with no friends in DC. Now this is again a bit of a journey, but follow me on it fir a few minutes...

Donald Trump is lazy. He doesn't want to be President. He wants the benefits of being President, but he doesn't actually want to do the job -- it's why dictatorship appeals to him, because he wants to have to do nothing more than issue a command. Actually passing policy is fucking hard, grueling work.

Now, I do not deny his first term was awful -- but in terms of actual policy implemented, there was fairly little. There was a whole lot of talk which led to a horrifying culture of terror, a few really godawful policies that he could just wave a pen over, but actually look at how many new laws he championed that passed.

Bet you thought there were more, huh?

What Congress passed were bills that were congressional priorities like the tax bill -- that wasn't what Trump wanted, it was what congressional Republicans wanted -- or that everyone wanted like Covid stimulus.

Because it is very easy to get Congress (mostly the Senate) to SAY anything. They'll SAY they support his policies every hour on Fox News.

And then they will simply never bring a bill to a vote. All of the short term gains of being a vocal supporter with none of the long term ramifications ov having a yea vote on your record.

Seriously, it's a matter of public record, you can look it up and see that exact behavior -- no one writes or sponsors a bill on shit he wants (which the administration can't do, a Senator has to), if one is, then it never leaves committee through various means.

Just one big gaping example... remember his wall? The one that's barely been touched? Huh I wonder why. Oh wait no, I know why -- Congress didn't fund it. They never said a word, they just did nothing.

The cabinet is responsible for getting those bills written, finding sponsors, helping shepherd them through a vote.

And Trump has chosen an entire group of people who have no political capital, not a single friend in the Senate -- including JD Vance.

Yes they will probably march in lockstep with his orders that are upheld by SCOTUS (most of his executive orders were knocked down by the Court in his first term and I honestly find them a bit unpredictable since there are at least 3 loyal to no clear judicial framework or philosophy). But they will never be able to convince anyone in the Senate to do a thing (some may not even get confirmed -- Gaetz is not the only one that I think could face challenges).

And GOP Senators who paid attention -- which should have been most of them -- should have all realized they don't actually have to support Trump to stay on his good side. They just need to stay silent. Trump watches what is said on Fox, not what happens in Congress. If they make occasional comments of support on things they'll never need to vote on and just don't comment on most things, they'll stay in his good graces (and it's shockingly easy to just not comment because House members trip over themselves to comment on everything and give reporters all the soundbites they need, and while they often do back it up with votes, they have very very few powers exclusive to them, they need the Senate too and Senate Republicans aren't all that crazy about House Republicans either.)

So yes, listen to what they want to do because the people need to be heard opposing it. But take it with a grain of salt and watch what the Senate actually DOES.

Because Matt Gaetz will never get a bill through the Senate. RFK Jr will never get a bill through the Senate.

And Donald Trump is never going to put in the 18 hour days 7 days a week for months necessary to shepherd policy himself.

The President is not a king, no matter what they try to convince you of -- his wants are not automatically granted.

[yourtoradorasextendedwarranty]

Why do you think you fall on the left of the political spectrum? You post the same shit as all the other Trump drones. The simping for billionaires, denying climate change, whining about DEI and "Woke" video games, stolen elections, making long winded nonsensical essays about abortion, etc etc etc. If you vote for authoritarians you are an authoritarian.

See I love asks like this because they show you and others like you to be the morons you are. Normally I'd be coy and playful but at this juncture I won't be. (*Babs, I fully expect you to comment on this, touch grass*)

ANYWAYS, Trump, is a NY Democrat. He has been his entire life. And the only reason that the Dems and celebrities turned on him was because he came out against the established powers. Specifically wanting to pull us out of wars. Ya know, like OBOMBER told us he was going to do until Lockheed Martin promised him a kickback. Then he was all the more prepared to bomb brown kids overseas for no good reason. Including intentionally killing an American kid while he was overseas.

OBAMA as an aside. Trump was always a Dem. But the Dems as a party have a very strict rule. "Kiss the ring, or else". Ever notice how AOC changes her votes when Pelosi gets involved? Did anyone watch Bernie Sanders in 2016? He had the same functional policies as Trump. That's why Trump won in 2016. Bernie bros got mad that the Dems shafted him, and went, "Well, they fucked Bernie so we are going to fuck them". And they did. Then Bernie decided to cave to the Dems and now fully more or less votes in line with them. (This no taking into consideration that he's a Socialist POS, but that's not the point). Trump ran as a Republican, not because he is one, but because they Dems keep out anyone they don't like. Trump could not have done well on a Dem ticket even if they DID let him on it.

Hell if you need more proof look at RFK. How many Traditional and Old School Dems have left the party in recent years? WalkAway being one of the SINGLE biggest points to this. Tulsi Gabbard? Left the Dems. RFK left the dems. Joe Rogan? He left the Dems. People don't respect the Democrats. Especially now that they have adopted Identity politics and are more Authoritarian now than they ever have been. And that's potentially including Jim Crowe era Dems.

Several Dems have come out against a number of Amendments. Including the first. And the Second. HELL Bidens appointee to SCOTUS has said we need "Disinformation laws" or other bullshit that is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT against the constitution. Hell we found out after the fact that the FBI, and other orgs were pressured by the US Gov, to remove conservatives from platforms for NO good reason. And we didn't even have that info at the time. We had to just BELIEVE that the platforms were discriminating. And they were. Just with pressure from the government. Which is FUCKING ILLEGAL and as you put it, "Authoritarian".

So no. I'm not some "Trump Drone". It's just that the bulk of you that think he's a scary dictator are indoctrinated MORONS that will believe anything. Dems could piss on your face in public, tell you it's raining and you'd believe it. They try that shit with me? I'm punching then in the dick. The modern Dems are Auth Tyrant wannabes and you just assume the position behind them. Then scream and throw shit at the other side when they tell you what they are doing to you is the fault of the otherside.

Mind you, this does not absolve Reps of some of the dumb shit they have done over the years. At all. Because they have done some REALLY dumb shit over the years. The problem you have with Trump isn't even Trump. It's the Mainstream Media telling you to hate Trump. And if he did a QUARTER of what the dems have done you'd be demanding jailing him and death row. The only reason you are fine with what the Dems do is because you are on their side. I'm on nobody's "Side". If Trump screws the pooch this time around, I'm going to call it out. The same way I did when he hired Bolton. Which was a SHIT choice.

But were you also aware Trump was effectively elected in 2016 by the Democrats? How? Well they donated to his campaigns to get the other Reps out of the race because they didn't think he had a chance. But they were also not going to risk running Killary against a half decent Rep. Little were they aware, people were sick of the Establishment class. They still are. Trump isn't an authoritarian. He's a populist. You are just pissed off that he's not a socialist. Because if he was you'd be HAPPY if he tore up the constitution. Because that's how all of you people are. Whine about power when you don't have it, then brag about how the government needs to be stupidly large when your side is in power. And are ALL ON BOARD for abuse of that power.

You people are all the same. I'm the same moderate I've always been. I'm not pro life. I'm actually indifferent to use of weed. (For clarity I don't smoke anything really). I'm pro 1A & 2A. I have some interesting opinions on prostitution. And I lean mostly left libertarian. However you have zero proof other than a JOKE of Trump being an authoritarian. And if you mention "The lockdowns" Trump didn't do that. He let the states handle things the way they saw fit (Dem states had the WORST lockdowns while their leadership were out having drunken orgies btw). He left abortion to the states. "OMG A FASCIST THAT LEAVES CHOICES TO THE STATES HE'S SO EVIL".

So yeah. I'm a moderate. It's not my fault you are so brainwashed you believe that Communism and Socialism are "Moderate" when they are FAR from. Get your head out of your ass.