this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2024
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Summary

Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the 2024 election leaves no room for ambiguity or an “asterisk” in his legitimacy, as he won both the popular vote and the Electoral College.

This outcome represents a clear mandate from American voters, who knowingly chose Trump’s policies and approach.

The anticipated results include pardons for January 6 participants, attacks on the press, and an administration filled with controversial figures.

By voting for Trump, Americans prioritized divisive rhetoric over democratic values, accepting the resulting turmoil.

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[–] [email protected] 228 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

I am American, and I have always loved my country. Until now, I've never been ashamed to call myself patriotic. My thought has always been than there will always be uninformed, uneducated assholes that vote against their own self-interests and the interests of their own country.

This election is different, though. We knew exactly what we were getting if we re-elected Trump. We responded by not only electing him in a landslide election, but handing the House and the Senate over to the Republicans, too. It was a clear message. America is not a nation of mostly good people with a few vocal "bad apples." We are a nation of hateful, scared bigots, and we proved it in a big way.

This was a turning point in American history, and the majority of us sent a clear message to their fellow citizens and to the world. America is not a nation of mostly good people being overshadowed by a media that covers the loudest assholes in the room. America is a nation of people who by a majority support exactly what the "crazy" Republicans are saying. I would feel better if Trump lost the popular vote but won the electoral vote, but that's not what happened.

This isn't an election where I've lost only lost faith in the democratic process or my fellow citizens, although both are true. This is an election where I've lost faith in my country as a whole. I have never been proudly Republican or proudly Democrat, but I've always been proudly American. Now I'm just... sad. I don't expect I'll see a day any time soon where I can honestly say I'm proud of my country. The best I can do is retreat into my own personal bubble, live my life, and watch the world burn around me until the flames consume everything I care about.

[–] [email protected] 59 points 2 weeks ago

For me, it was the days and weeks after Jan 6th, when it became clear that outright insurrection, a violent coup, was not going to spark a course correct.

The republican party should have shattered. The non-fascists should have woken up, and fought with MAGA, and years later, a viable political party rise from the ashes.

But that didn't happen. A few conscientious dissenters fell on their swords, most at retirement age anyway. Fascism took over completely. And the American people ate it up.

Weeks after Jan 6th, it was clear that consequences were not coming. They took their mask off, and no one cared, or couldn't stop them.

And here we are. Convicted felon with absolute power on his way to the Whitehouse, who owns the SCOTUS, Senate, and likely the House.

Trump will have unchecked power to do whatever he damn well pleases.

Way to fucking go, America. I fucking hate my countrymen.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

How old are you, if you don't mind me asking? I'm 40, started paying attention to politics in the Clinton years and then really paying attention with Bush v Gore in 2000. America was full on neolib vs neocon bullshit back then, a quarter of a century ago. The 2nd Iraq War was a big moment for me of realizing that the only thing America stands for is corporate hegemony. Project 25 is no different than the Project for a New American Century, and the "opposition" from the "left" isn't fundamentally against any of it, they just pay a bit more lip service to culture issues (which are of course important if you aren't a cis white christian male, but they are clearly not enough).

Tl;dr

[–] TopRamenBinLaden 69 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I am close to the same age and something feels different now. The Trump administration is many levels of degenerate beyond the Bush administration. Even Dick fucking Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris FFS. I think Trump is pretty far beyond neocon, unfortunately. Just straight up Fascist.

The Neocons may have started rolling this snowball back then, but it is an avalanche now.

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[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago

I'm with you. It was absolutely soul crushing to watch the worst person to run for president get elected on no qualifications and give us reasons to despise him deeply every day for 8 years. But even worse was that people cheered him the fuck on. Then demanded more. This country is lost. We have no reason to hope anymore. Everything good is in danger and everything dangerous is a possibility. We're fucked. I'll never have another warm and fuzzy feeling about this country or its institutions.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Thanks for writing this for me.

I'm in the same boat. I'm a white straight guy. So, I guess I'm not in immediate danger, although I am an academic. So, I guess my choices are: fight, flee or essentially hide.

Fighting seems infeasible although I think violence is justifiable.

Fleeing would require leaving the country. I dunno if I can swing that.

So....I guess I just live my life and hope it's not quite as bad as I fear? I dunno. I'm open to advice.

I do now hate this country and the bulk of the people who live here. Fuck them.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago

America is not a nation of mostly good people with a few vocal "bad apples." We are a nation of hateful, scared bigots, and we proved it in a big way.

A big chunk of the rest of the world have telling you that for decades, but you guys believed the lie about some “shining city upon a hill”. The American dream was always built on the misery of others.

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[–] [email protected] 126 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

They also solidified this form of political campaigning. Its only going to get more hateful from here on out. We are watching Nero burn Rome.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 weeks ago

We are watching Nero burn Rome.

Watching? Hell, a third of us fucking gave Nero a match while spraying the city with gasoline, and another third said "You know, I do like s'mores..."

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 weeks ago

That horse sailed 8 years ago.

[–] [email protected] 101 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (14 children)

Something to keep in mind.

Trump didn't win a significant number of new voters. He kept his base, which is roughly the size of what it was in 2020.

The problem was that Harris lost voters. In droves. Nationwide. And she took a lot of winnable downballot candidates with her. And I'm not even saying that to blame her. She ran a magnificent campaign while Trump was most noted for saying "They're eating the dogs!". So why did she still lose, and lose so hard? Because Democrats stayed home. Roughly about 10% of them overall, nationwide. Sure, some of them stayed home or voted 3rd party to protest Gaza, especially in Michigan. But the real story is that she underperformed so badly nationwide. I mean, for the love of God, New Jersey was competitive. That call about Iowa possibly going blue is going to be up there with "Dewey defeats Truman" in terms of political misfires. She severely underperformed with men and Latinos, especially Latino men. Which means this: 8-10 million people couldn't stomach voting for Trump, but they'd rather passively hand over the country to Trump vs. voting for a black woman. Whether the problem they have is the fact that she's black, female, or both is irrelevant. But the message they sent was clear. "We don't want Trump, but we'd rather step back and just let Trump take the country rather than vote for her."

The problems with bigotry in this country go much deeper than some people are willing to admit, and Harris just found that out the hard way. As far as the voting base is concerned, voting for Obama was a mistake that they will not repeat again, and they just proved that by handing Trump everything he wanted on a silver platter instead.

We can't even say that it's an outsized minority any more. A majority of the people in this country just spoke up and said that they either want the racism and bigotry or are at least willing to put up with it.

Trump won the election not because Democrat voters said "Trump!", but because they said "Not Harris."

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 weeks ago (17 children)

This honestly cements my view that America is a racist nation, no question.

You don't get 15 million missing votes without a solid chunk of those being Democrats, bog standard Democrats, that didn't want to vote for a black woman.

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[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago

The large turnout in 2020 was more driven by the will to remove Trump than to elect Biden. This time it seems they forgot how bad it was and decided to stay home.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

She ran a magnificent campaign

The entire point of a campaign is to attract voters...

Because Democrats stayed home. Roughly about 10% of them overall, nationwide.

So I don't see how both statement can be true...

Her campaign did a shit job at getting people to vote for her, how do you consider it magnificent?

[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 weeks ago (10 children)
  • She absolutely crushed Trump at the debate
  • Her rallies were drawing far more people than Trump's
  • She had A-list star power (Beyonce, Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift, etc.) actively endorsing her
  • She took over a race where Biden was down by 5%+ and losing ground daily to at least making it competitive
  • She only had 107 days to work with.

It proved to not be enough. The people who were coming to her rallies were apparently all people who were going to vote for her anyway; the size of the rallies only gave the illusion that her campaign was attracting more voters. And with so many Democrats actively choosing to stay home rather than vote at all, it seems like nothing she did would have mattered anyway. But given the crap she had to work with, she ran a near-flawless campaign. She had no way of knowing that it just didn't matter.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah but if you start to poke fingers at the Democratic Party, you might start to realize that most of their corporate donors are fine with a Trump presidency. Almost like they were fine with Harris campaigning on keeping the status quo, because they'd win either way. Better to start blaming voters now!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (7 children)

Trump won because the DNC underestimated the sexists, racists and the idiot woke who think they somehow did something with this for palestine.

Editorial note:

i know woke is a poisoned word but I like to use to describe idiots who think they are so smart and better than others that they would rather let trump elected than admit that voting for the lesser evil is the right thing to do

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[–] [email protected] 70 points 2 weeks ago (15 children)

On one hand, it's going to be funny watching them cry about it once the consequences of their actions start to impact their lives negatively.

On the other hand, I live in Canada, so it's going to fuck us over too.

[–] [email protected] 89 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Remember, with doublespeak they’ll continue* to blame the democrats while their Republican leaders dismantle their rights, the economy, and the government right in front of their eyes.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

It will be a repeat of 2020. They'll leave the country in shambles and then people will vote Democrat to fix everything.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 weeks ago

This is extremely optimistic. Voting, as we understand it, is not going to exist.

[–] Voroxpete 24 points 2 weeks ago

You're assuming that there will be a free and fair election in 2028.

I don't think that's a given anymore.

[–] skulblaka 18 points 2 weeks ago

Trump has openly stated that he plans to abolish voting

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 weeks ago

"They're not hurting the people they need to be hurting"

We are so going to be hearing this again.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Do not underestimate the allure of a man who offers you a boogeyman to blame all your problems on, while promising you that only he can stop it. That allure is very difficult for many people to overcome. One of the other problems with it is that even if they do see the consequences of their choices, it's just as easy for Trump to convince them that those problems are the boogeyman's fault too. It doesn't have to make sense, and Trump doesn't care if it does as long as it keeps the rubes in line and focusing their anger on anyone else but him.

This is a cult following. Any attempt to show them that their problems were caused by Trump will only cause them to MAGA harder.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

Eventually the house of cards fails when things get bad enough. The ride is going to suck though.

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[–] [email protected] 60 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

I made these so when things start going bad, we could put these up as a reminder.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 2 weeks ago

The leopards are about to have a face buffet.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

I just want fucking Healthcare and not-extinction.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Healthcare is going away for most people as are women's rights and rights, really, for anyone who isn't a rich white Christian man. You guys really fucked yourselves, and to a great extent everyone else, this time. Get ready for the biggest deficit in global history followed by a depression for the ages.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

sorry, best i can do is fascism

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

More immigration! Turbo immigration! You think it’s bad now? Wait until the equator starts suffering wet bulb events

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

There won’t be more immigration. Quite the opposite. Get ready to see your friends, neighbors, and relatives deported. Get ready to see crops dying in the fields.

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[–] ZombiFrancis 22 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The Democratic Party repeatedly expressed the need for a strong Republican Party. They sure got it.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There’s no blaming the Russians this time around. There’s no blaming media malpractice. There’s still some blame to attribute to voter suppression, but majorities elect the people who suppress the votes...

what a stupid fucking article. why carve out exceptions for shit you don't understand and then double down on the politico.

fuck i hate journalists.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

Christ - because it's not as though the media contributes massively to voter suppression.

Journalistic malpractice is one of the main causes - if not the main cause of this result.

[–] Grass 18 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

what will the rest of the world get from this? the obvious one would be higher emissions and more fucked weather...

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

Possibly benefit from some brain drain too

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 weeks ago

Second hand fascism

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

American conservatives wouldn't understand personal responsibility, especially the ones that crow about others not taking it, if it was literally rage fucking their assholes without lube.

And it absolutely will be once Trump's policies are in effect.

But somehow it will still be Obama's fault because the poor, ignorant fools consider critical thinking to be a librul plot like climate change and gravity.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Americans always say the 2nd amendment is there to prevent dictatorships. How about you proof it this time?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago

He's the punishment America deserves, but not the one it needs right now.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

they don't know what they want because the campaign was all about a dude saying bad words instead of any sort of real plan to fix anything. I'm tired of the spin. Harris adopted all the far right framing on immigration and bent over backwards for like half a dozen centrist republicans which lead to low turnout for like the obama voter crowd

Edit: Also apparently now there's a large sector of people who simply aren't online and don't watch tv. Reaching them should be the #1 goal of any future election campaign

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