this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2026
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[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago (3 children)

We must assume it will. We know these people are incredibly incompetent and of the 3 estimated tracks I theorized (in risk planning), Trump is somewhere between the lowest and middle tier of inflicting tyranny.

Game Theory is that we must be viligent and also assume they will be legit and drive turnout for Democrats.

(to those who criticize the AIPAC Dems and what not, now is the time to get involved in Dem primaries to get more progressives in).

I don't know about competent but brazen for sure. Think they won't try to steal the election by straight up bombing high density liberal areas? Oh, they definitely would.

[–] GreenBeard@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 days ago

heory is that we must be viligent and also assume they will be legit and drive turnout for Democrats.

(to those who criticize the AIPAC Dems and what not, now is the time to get involved in Dem primaries to get more progressives in).

Technically, the best time to start building primary candidates was immediately after the last election. The second best time is now.

[–] Rhoeri@piefed.world -4 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

Those incredibly incompetent people managed to turn America into a full-on dictatorship. Those incompetent people are murdering people in broad daylight with impunity. Those incompetent people are illegally deporting citizens live on camera, those incompetent people are getting away with the largest sex-trafficking pedo-ring in history-

At what point are we going to stop calling them incompetent and start accepting that they’ve efficiently undermined the history- and future, of the largest superpower on the entire planet all within 6 months.

It’s over already. We lost.

[–] lennybird@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

^ EVERYONE BE VERY WARY OF COMMENTS LIKE THIS SPREADING DEFEATISM, APATHY.

It’s over already. We lost.

This is bullshit, and I can think of 100000 ways it could be 1,00,000x worse than it is.

It is a completely and utterly non-constructive mindset and intended to prevent action and resistance. At BEST, it is just completely ignorant and short-sighted. The only thing this mindset does is help the fascists. Please, don't help the fascists.

[–] Rhoeri@piefed.world -5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

“The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it”

~ George Bernard Shaw

And for the record, I’m more wary of pie-in-the-sky bullshit trying to paint some non-existent freedom-fighting movement into the picture.

No one is doing shit about anything. Look around. Its words. That’s all a tone has- words.

[–] oftenawake@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 days ago

Saying this again...

The future can't be "observed" because it hasn't happened yet - that's fortune teller stuff. Nobody ever managed to do something by deciding it was impossible and not bothering. What other options are there but trying? Don't give up preemptively, that's how the fascist bastards win!

[–] PoastRotato@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

This is a miserably defeatist attitude and it helps no one. If you're not going to say anything useful, then just stay out of our way, please.

[–] Rhoeri@piefed.world -4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Oh? And what exactly are you doing? Posting words on social media?

Meanwhile, they’re point-blank shooting people in the face. And I’m not in your way because you aren’t doing jack shit.

[–] PoastRotato@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Even if I were doing nothing but posting on social media, you would literally be doing less than that with all your demoralizing doom posting. Just because you're too myopic to see a way out of this mess doesn't mean you need to go around spewing your defeatism all over everyone else and dissuading them from meaningful action in the process.

Once again, I implore you to shut the fuck up. You are part of the problem right now.

[–] Rhoeri@piefed.world -3 points 3 days ago

I implore you to shut the fuck up.

How about no. You’re free to spread happiness and rainbows, peace and love, and I’m just as free to spread the gospel of reality.

Don’t like what I have to say, block me. But I’m telling you now, I’m not done saying it and it’s not violating any rules.

Have a nice day.

[–] GreenBeard@lemmy.ca 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It’s over already. We lost.

You only lose if you refuse to fight. Look, I know it looks hopeless. I've been fighting for energy transitions for 25 years, if you think I don't know what hopeless feels like? I have good news for you though. The future didn't always look this dark once. That also means you don't know how bright it might be around the next bend. I will probably not live to see victory if it happens; and it may never happen. That doesn't mean it isn't worth going down fighting anyway.

In the frame of reference of the grand scope of the universe, everything anyone anywhere has ever done is inconsequential. But in the frame of reference of right here, right now, what you chose to be, matters. It matters to everyone around you, everyone you care about, and it matters to you. MY fight isn't over until I choose for it to be over or someone takes me out. Is yours?

[–] Rhoeri@piefed.world -1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (4 children)

I’d love to be wrong, but at 54 years of age. I know a defeat when I see one.

It’s over.

When a woman was shot the face in broad daylight in front of witnesses and nothing was done about it- it was over. When a nurse helping a fellow citizen was murder for his efforts, in broad daylight- and nothing was done about it- it was over. When legal citizens are deported DAILY and never heard from again- and nothing was done about it- it was over.

It IS over.

[–] GreenBeard@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The old world dies and the new struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters. It is neither the first time or the last. America may be done but "it" isn't over. At 44 I've had to reinvent my identity from scratch more times than I can count, and I am so very tired. But life doesn't end here just because one order falls. In every time of monsters, heroes rise. Every Luke Skywalker needs his Master Yoda. Every Ang, needs his Uncle Iroh. I may not Bea young man at the peak of his ambition anymore. But I am ready to put myself on the line one more time. To show my son, my daughter, and anyone else ready to hear that there can be a tomorrow worth sacrificing everything for.

An old man was planting fruit trees, when two boys found him and asked, "Old man, why do you plant fruit trees. They are so young and it will take forever for them to grow. You'll be long dead before you will ever eat their fruit." The old man said to the boys, "You're right, I will never live to see their harvest. That's not why I plant them. You see, I have sons about your age who will one day inherit my land. With the fruit from these trees they will feed our village for generations to come."

I know you're tired friend. I know you're mourning the orchard as it burns. I know the world we grew up in is ending and the monsters are everywhere. But IT is not over. Now is the time for old men to begin planting trees they will never see the fruit of.

[–] Rhoeri@piefed.world -2 points 3 days ago

You said it better than I ever could. Yes. That’s is what I mean. What we knew is done. What we have yet to learn is uncertain. Everyone is trying to hold on to how things were, but that’s done. It’s over.

What happens next is up to a lot of variables.

[–] witten@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The arc of the moral universe bending toward justice sometimes takes longer than three to four weeks.

[–] Rhoeri@piefed.world -2 points 2 days ago

When it sits by and watches as a woman is shot point-blank in the face and does nothing-

I’ll safely assume it no longer exists.

[–] oftenawake@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago

If you're still breathing it's not over. So better stop with that defeatism, because you have no idea what is next. It isn't over, you're still alive so get involved!

[–] orclev@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The take away isn't that they're not incompetent, they absolutely are, it's that the bar to getting away with all of that was way lower than anybody ever thought. All those checks and balances, laws and conventions, and distributed powers ultimately mean nothing if someone controls enough of the government and the one thing Republicans have been highly competent about is making sure a majority of every branch of government has been packed with loyal Republicans. Once that was done nothing else mattered, it's Calvin Ball from here out so it literally doesn't matter that they're all knuckle dragging morons.

At this point there are only three possible ways of fixing this. In order from best to worst the first possibility is that MAGA doesn't feel bold enough to outright ignore the midterms and they lose their majority in at least the legislative branch. The second possibility is that they fuck with the midterms so obviously that the military feels compelled to actually follow their oath to defend the Constitution and stages a military coup to oust MAGA. The third and worst possibility is that the military fails to act and it's up to regular citizens to stage a revolt which would likely lead to a second civil war. Best case scenario in that case is that the military either sits things out or else fractures and sides in part with each side. Worst case the military sides with MAGA.

[–] Rhoeri@piefed.world -2 points 3 days ago

MAGA has the military. That’s a foregone conclusion. They’re above the law. Period. There will be no justice. Because if there were, we’d not have a convicted felon in the White House.

America is done.