So what form does the resistance take?

The many people who have already become and the many more who will soon become pissed or disappointed or disillusioned with what is happening will not automatically rush off to register as Democrats. Rather, these people compose and substantial and growing pool of support that is up for grabs. They are the persuadables. Many of them will experience the cognitive dissonance of having their own image of what Trump stands for contradicted by things happening to them or their families or friends personally—things that they cannot deny, because they are living them. When this happens, they will search for explanations. Trump, of course, is always ready with lies about why things are bad: it’s immigrants, it’s Biden, blah blah, you know the things he says. When people are confronted with hard realities, though, the power of lies is weakened. The political opposition—already at least half of the country, and likely more, at least on a policy level—will have this expanding pool of people who have been burned to work with, to talk to, to bring in, to ally with.

The opposition is the majority.

None of this means that the work of deprogramming former Republicans is not a difficult task. The right has smashed public trust in media, they are backed by a near-infinite pool of money, and they are led by one of the world’s richest men, who bought his own social media network and bought the Republican Party and seems prepared to deploy all of his resources on his apocalyptic idiot quest to destroy public services once and for all. There is hard work to be done. I’m not trying to give a kindergarten “We Are the World” speech that implies that any of this is easy, or that we are not right on the edge of some very bad things. I do, however, get the sense that the mood among many non-Republicans has swung a little too far towards resignation to be healthy—that the conventional wisdom is trending towards “we’re ◊◊◊◊◊◊,” which is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Recognize that these ◊◊◊◊◊◊◊ are the minority, and that it is impossible for them to carry out their program without isolating more of their base and become more of a minority.

So stop moping around. We have the people! We have to bring them together. The numbers are on our side. Trump and Elon Musk are like two guys with six-shooters trying to hold a thousand people hostage. They only win if everyone thinks they are too strong to rush.
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www.hamiltonnolan.com

They Are a Minority

Get your mind right.
www.hamiltonnolan.com www.hamiltonnolan.com
 
Am slowly starting to remember the progressive politicians out there and may try to connect with them
 
What government?

This clown show has some very obvious points of failure, no need for some general uprising.

Sadly, the most effective way to end this nightmare would be a coalition of the Washington Hospitality Sector to just not book anything by a Republican and not let them end/sleep at their establishments until they make big changes to their policies.
 
Emily's Cat said:
That's not it. Look, my brain is screwy. I don't think in words or in pictures, my mind is full of stretchy squishy relationship and impact rubberbands and stuff. I can't explain it well, it's a very fuzzy way of thinking that ends up being great for math and great for actuarial work, but a huge barrier to translate for other people.

This is overly generalized, so bear that in mind.

Obama got elected, and a pile of idiot tea partiers spent eight years insisting that Obama wasn't a legal president because birth certificate baloney. To this, liberals generally responded in the vein of "Shut up you absolute loons, Obama was legally elected by the legal process and is the president, so you shouldn't be carrying on like idiots about them not being a legitimate president. Obama is perfectly legitimate, the process worked exactly how it was supposed to, and you're a ninny." Obama reversed a bunch of EOs and issued a bunch of new EOs and nobody paid attention because the morons were too busy yelling about Hawaii not being part of the US and such.

Trump got elected the first time, and a pile of people staged marches in pussy hats proclaiming "not MY president". And I thought that was pretty damned hypocritical at the time, given than Trump won by the exact same rules of the game that those same liberals were venerating during the prior administration. But you know, at least they could point and say "popular vote!" even though that's not how the rules work in the first place. But there was some basis for the complaint, even if I didn't agree with it. Trump reversed a bunch of EOs and issued a bunch of new EOs and nobody paid attention because they were distracted by crocheted headwear and never-ending investigations into everyone associated with Trump's administration.

Biden got elected, and conservatives got angry that their guy didn't win. Liberals pretty much told them to STFU and deal with it, because them's the rules and you lost so shove it. Biden reversed a crap ton of EOs and issued a whole bunch of new EOs and conservatives hated it and liberals loved it, and liberals pretty much said "too bad, so sad, that's how it works, that's what the President gets to do".

Trump got elected again... and this time they also got the popular vote. And the group of people who've been banging the drum about how the system works are now bitching that the system worked exactly the same way it's always worked, and even their proposed popular vote takes everything would have resulted in the exact same result we have now... but NOW they're going to protest about it. And Trump did the same thing Biden did and dumped the prior Admin's EOs and started issuing their own EOs, but no, no, no, no we can't have Trump doing it, that's a problem so let's have massive protests to tell everyone we're mad that the game didn't go our way.

So at the end of the day, it's not so much "we don't like what you're doing and you're going to hear about it"... it's "we're just fine with it when our guy does it but we don't like it when YOU do it so we're going to make a stink about you doing the same thing our guy did"
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Writing from across the pond, you have just described a form of democracy, but democracy and its rules, rely heavily on responsible government to retain those rules by national consensus. But what if in such a democracy, those rules are changed by stealth, and those rules erode the ability of the populace to remove irresponsible government and it's leader, who seek to eliminate all opposition by not having elections? Trump and Bannon have indicated that is what they might or desire to do, haven't they, or was that merely pipe dream, and wishful thinking? If an emboldened Trump ever decided to put those desires into action, would that be a case of all the old rules are gone, so now both government and the population can now do whatever they want to achieve their goals?
 
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Susheel said:
Hmmmm...I notice that one of the biggest proponents of an armed resistance against government overreach has fallen silent of late.
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Yeah, progressives resist and MAGA makes fun of them. I am liking Tina Smith telling Musk you are not my boss and Gov Walz. I think Tina Smith as a candidate for prez would be fun
 
MinnesotaBrant said:
Yeah, progressives resist and MAGA makes fun of them. I am liking Tina Smith telling Musk you are not my boss and Gov Walz. I think Tina Smith as a candidate for prez would be fun
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People over here thought the same about Boris Johnson for Mayor of London/ Prime Minister.

Be careful what you wish for...
 
Orphia Nay said:
No, a day or two ago, they said they are thinking about buying an AR-15.
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And given what is going on, why is armed reisitence to tyranny such an unthinkable thing?
After all, it is how the USA got started.
I think is it a last resort, and I don't think we have reached that point yet but the way things are going........
 
Explorer said:
Writing from across the pond, you have just described a form of democracy, but democracy and its rules, rely heavily on responsible government to retain those rules by national consensus. But what if in such a democracy, those rules are changed by stealth, and those rules erode the ability of the populace to remove irresponsible government and it's leader, who seek to eliminate all opposition by not having elections? Trump and Bannon have indicated that is what they might or desire to do, haven't they, or was that merely pipe dream, and wishful thinking? If an emboldened Trump ever decided to put those desires into action, would that be a case of all the old rules are gone, so now both government and the population can now do whatever they want to achieve their goals?
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Bannon did indeed say those thing, but he is prerry much out the picture as far as being s mover and shaker goes..and has been for some time.
 
dudalb said:
Bannon did indeed say those thing, but he is prerry much out the picture as far as being s mover and shaker goes..and has been for some time.
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Are you sure? I've seen articles about Bannon speaking for Trump recently, and surely he's behind the Gaza AI video.
 
Susheel said:
Hmmmm...I notice that one of the biggest proponents of an armed resistance against government overreach has fallen silent of late.
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I don't know who you're talking about... but I'll throw my hat in the ring to say that there's a difference between armed resistance to government overreach that violates our rights... and armed aggression toward a politician or party that you don't like. If the government as a whole is actually violating our rights and abusing our citizens, well, that's what the second amendment is actually for.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
What government?

This clown show has some very obvious points of failure, no need for some general uprising.

Sadly, the most effective way to end this nightmare would be a coalition of the Washington Hospitality Sector to just not book anything by a Republican and not let them end/sleep at their establishments until they make big changes to their policies.
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So... persecution on the basis of political belief then? That sounds totally democratic and like an ideal we should all strive for, not authoritarian at all, nope.
 
Emily's Cat said:
So... persecution on the basis of political belief then? That sounds totally democratic and like an ideal we should all strive for, not authoritarian at all, nope.
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Tell me you don't know what "authoritarian" means without telling me you don't know what "authoritarian" means, but in the dumbest, most reactionary way possible.
 
Emily's Cat said:
So... persecution on the basis of political belief then? That sounds totally democratic and like an ideal we should all strive for, not authoritarian at all, nope.
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In a Democracy, the one political belief that must not be tolerated is that there should not be a Democracy.
Trump is blatantly violating the Separation of Power, the central pillar of the US Democracy.
Regardless of your Party Affiliation, every American who has ever taken an Oath on the Country is sworn to oppose him and everyone who is supporting his anti-democratic efforts. That's why they sworn to fight every enemy, foreign AND domestic, which Trump and Musk objectively are.

It is not authoritarian to oppose authoritarianism
so stuff your bothsidisms.
 
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The Great Zaganza said:
In a Democracy, the one political belief that must not be tolerated is that there should not be a Democracy.
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What does "should not be tolerated" mean, exactly? I can think of all kinds of ideas that should probably be voted down. Replacing a democratic system with some other system of government might well be one of those ideas. Is that what you mean? It's an idea that can be advocated and even put to a vote, but should be voted down?

Or do you mean it's one of those ideas that people should not even be allowed to advocate, let alone put to a vote?
The Great Zaganza said:
Trump is blatantly violating the Separation of Power, the central pillar of the US Democracy.
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Seems to me he's blatantly asserting the Separation of Powers.
The Great Zaganza said:
Regardless of your Party Affiliation, every American who has ever taken an Oath on the Country is sworn to oppose him and everyone who is supporting his anti-democratic efforts. That's why they sworn to fight every enemy, foreign AND domestic, which Trump and Musk objectively are.
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I think it's probably not the place of foreigners to tell citizens what they are obliged to do, when it comes to opposing their own government. Some things are just not your business, TGZ. This is one of them.
 
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