This judicial review provides at least a reprieve, a small hope that some of the administration’s most destructive impulses will be pared back.

In the past week or so, the courts have begun to try to set some boundaries on the Musk–Miller–Trump administration’s early blitz of recklessness.

. . .

This judicial review provides at least a small reprieve, hope that some of the administration’s most destructive impulses will be stopped. Or at least pared back. But even with the courts stepping up, and even with the reality of the administration’s ineptitude sinking in, this early Musk–Miller–Trump blitz remains very—maybe irreparably—damaging. Of course, there are a lot of moles to whack: the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are being dismantled at an alarming rate, and the court system is not known for being nimble. The administration is betting, perhaps rightly, that at least some of its thoughtless, lawless efforts will slip through the cracks.

But even if the courts caught them all—and even if every court facing each lawless escapade said, “Nope, that’s not a thing”—still the entire process would be doing serious damage to our institutions. Think of it as someone spoofing your identity and going on a shopping spree with your credit cards. Even if the goon gets caught, you still have to go store by store to argue that the fraudulent purchase wasn’t legitimate and hope the debt is forgiven. And all the while, perhaps long after all the debts are dealt with, the torrent of uncertainty kills your credit score.

MBFC
Archive

  • rational_lib@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    What’s annoying is the US cable/social media incessantly jumps right to the Trump/Musk framing of things.

    The US AID shutdown has led to food aid stuck at ports as populations that rely on it starve.

    A report on Monday from Paul Martin, the USAid inspector general, found that close to half a billion dollars’ worth of food was rotting because of confusion surrounding Mr Trump’s freeze last month.

    How many americans have heard about the consequences of Trump’s actions? 1%? How many have heard about Elon’s vague and baseless claims that US AID is a big fraud? It seems every Republican I know has heard that.

    • xyzzy@lemm.ee
      0·
      2 years ago

      The answer, of course, is for the remaining USAID staff to just ignore conflicting instructions and just give the food away. Federal workers need to understand that the job they have is not secure whether they obey or not.

  • sumguyonline@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    Ya know how about 2/3rds of the internet population is now on at least 1 watchlist because of supporting Mangione. The second we start seeing vulnerable citizens having their medicare/medicaid/food stamps/gov housing/anything I missed that our taxes pay for to keep people from dying in a ditch during a snow storm/benefits actually cut. You know, like the second 2 small children citizens freeze to death because of funding cuts while the rich refuse to pay their fair share. I say we all, in unison, do something so illegal it requires a legal response, but since so many of us are doing it they won’t be able to pick out anyone to single out for certain so we can all keep doing it as they freak out and go after whomever they feel is vulnerable. Like who’s the one person it’s illegal to threaten to kill? What would happen if 75million of us did it at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon? Pure, unadulterated chaos. Just if some kind of “threat protest” were to take place because of small children dying while rich fucks slept in late, and now a bill for more benefit cuts is being considered, you yourself should absolutely be prepared to be targeted as a ring leader because they will target the weakest and try to use them as a scape goat, I can almost guarantee the current Reich’s SS wouldn’t have the balls to knock on the door of someone that lifts 80lbs of dry cement with 1 hand and is documented as “should already be dead we don’t know what the fuck.” I could be wrong, and if I am, nothing would make me happier than sum small nut little man that everyone thinks is a badass finally going toe to toe with me… But I have no doubt they would pick on a highschooler, or housewife, or a software engineer. So be ware of how they view you before you stand up bravely, you don’t want to be the reason the cement beast goes on a rampage, you want to live to see the cement beast go on a rampage. Also, I’m not advocating for any actions at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon, but at the rate they are looking to “slash” benefits for the average Citizen, and frankly I’ve had everything taken from me already, I’m not on government benefits but my family is, and I’m done having everything taken. I’m Jim Carrey and this is fun with Dick and Jane - “I got the lawn back”. Take again, and I will take whatever I can, and I’ve already seen how your little Piggy’s cow toe for me. I would too if I was weak like them.

      • stickly@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        Doing only that would just give them more fodder to complain about a deficit. Mass violent resistance is just an excuse for crackdowns and martial law.

        One interesting and simple idea I’ve seen is just opting out of the consumer economy. Americans in any socioeconomic strata can just stop buying anything but the bare minimum.

        General strikes are effective but hard to coordinate and maintain, most people can’t risk skipping a paycheck. But anyone can switch to beans and rice, cancel subscriptions, learn to repair their own clothes, buy a phone second hand, etc… Since a massive portion of our economy is driven by that spending (68% of our GDP) it would definitely hurt, but they couldn’t ignore it.

        It’s easy to do and doesn’t have an outsized impact on poor or at risk groups, and it’s not all or nothing so any way you can cut helps. I wonder how they’d react to 200 million people on an economic hunger strike…

  • Theonetheycall1845@lemmy.worldM
    0·
    2 years ago

    What I don’t understand is that no one is stopping this from happening. They’re all just letting it happen. Perhaps because they are afraid to lose their jobs but at what cost? I’ve lost all hope for this country and I wish to God I could move. Oh well.

    • Pyr@lemmy.ca
      0·
      2 years ago

      A believe a lot of blue politicians actually agree with Trump and what him to push things through where when things go to shit they can then try to blame Trump and still run for re-election and the sheep will still vote for them.

    • dustyb0tt0mz@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      you have to make leftists understand that the only answer is violence. we have to say this over and over until it finally clicks. the people are the last line of defense.

        • dustyb0tt0mz@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 years ago

          that’s a complicated answer.

          practical answer: yes

          idealistic answer: no

          EDIT: i think the most important answer for right now is that it doesn’t matter. this situation will not be resolved through voting. the mid terms might help alleviate the problem, but that’s a long time from now and things could get a lot worse if people don’t pull their heads out of their asses now.

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
      0·
      2 years ago

      I think a lot of humans are having this thought anyways: “We are all fucked. There is no future for many/most of us”, and therefore, people have no reason/motivation to fight.

      What would a vision of the future be, in your eyes? Where do you see yourself in 40-50 years?

  • drascus@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    2 years ago

    To bad there is nothing we can do. We call our reps and they say “we agree, but there is nothing we can do”. The Republicans definitely won’t do anything so until midterms we are basically stuck.

  • ansiz@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    Far too many Americans will argue with you about how every single thing Trump and Musk do, is good. There is no way to change their mind and I am surrounded by them.

  • yenahmik@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    I just need to shout this into the void:

    Fuck this fucking bullshit. What the hell is wrong with this country. I fucking hate this timeline.

        • TangoNoir@lemm.eeEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          The most blame goes to billionaires and allowing corporations to be people.

          Most people that voted for this have been brainwashed heavily for many years by the super wealthy to think they want this.

          It’s not an excuse but think about it: if our country had provided better over all education and actually kept the super wealthy and our media in check then this wouldn’t be happening.

          We should have been fighting really hard to reinstate things like fairness doctrine and to have more news outlets that didn’t rely on ad revenue this whole time.

          The problem with progress in the US is we are never able to focus on the most crucial issues first. There’s so many people and views etc. and everyone has different priorities. Rich people don’t have this problem because they all have the same driving goal: money.

          So, there’s blame to go around but citizens pointing at each other is not going to fix anything.

        • canajac@lemmy.caEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          Blame? They did what you did, vote for the better candidate. That chunk of people was bigger than the chunk who voted for the other side. Isn’t that what the US is all about since the 1780s? Blame should be given to the people who sat on their arses and did not vote. We all know there are more democrat aligned people than republican.

      • redwattlebird @lemmings.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        I think your country’s terrible voting and political system is largely to blame… Given that it’s so easy for an unelected official to sweep in and dismantle everything.

        • Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de
          0·
          2 years ago

          True, but Dems made a terrible system even worse by refusing to hold a primary. When you add that in with liberals funding a genocide, promising to add fascist Republicans to their cabinet, and offering zero policies that people actually care about like free healthcare, it is painfully clear that Liberal capitalist politicians did everything they could to throw this election.

  • KeenFlame@feddit.nu
    0·
    2 years ago

    I have so many ideas about it, before it even began. Good luck to you all, may we survive this next fascist cycle

      • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        Another asswipe Ivan. The Russian infantry is accepting applications. Don’t worry, the NATO tungsten will greet you.

        • NastyNative@mander.xyzEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          Another armchair general who seems more inclined to see others suffer than to advocate for peace. Perhaps they should consider directly engaging in the conflict in Ukraine if they truly believe in such an approach.

  • DarkFuture@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    I actually do.

    We’re entirely fucked.

    We’re going to spend the rest of our lives witnessing the enshitification of this nation. Even if we completely turn this crash and burn around, we’ll then spend the rest of our lives watching things being slowly rebuilt as traitorous Republicans continue to obstruct.

    I don’t think a lot of Americans are grasping exactly how hard we fucked ourselves by refusing to responsibly inform ourselves even to a minimal degree.

    • Random Dent@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      As someone currently living in Canada, the US is badly fucking up a lot of it’s international relations too. I’ve heard several people here say that even if if the US unfucks itself right away (which it won’t), it’s still going to be a long time before things will be right again.

      You don’t go around threatening neighbours and allies like this and then expect to be able to just walk it back overnight.

      • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        Oh I know. I hate it because a) I love yall, Canadians, Danes, Germans opposed to the afd, etc. You’re our friends and neighbors and I’m horrified seeing people not treat you as such, but also b) we had a real good thing going and we’re never getting it back.

      • PunnyName@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        USAID was, more than anything, a means of positive international relations. It was a 2 prong approach of foreign aid and foreign good will. The mid 1900s US made a lot of fucking enemies, and USAID was one very solid method of trying to overcome the damage wrought by our government.

        And now TB supplies – that were already paid for – are rotting in warehouses (among many other issues). Not only will that harm people, it will harm our reputation, AND increase antibiotic resistant TB, which will in turn affect the rest of the world including the US itself.

        And that’s only one piece of the very large clusterfuck.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 years ago

          USAID was a great investment, a cheap investment that returned good value, even beyond things like lives saved and people brought out of poverty. In many ways it was being a good neighbor.

          It would still be a great way to spend our money if we doubled it or tripled it or more

          • Ithorian@lemmy.world
            0·
            2 years ago

            It was a great source of corruption too, we must be real at this point, end USAID is a joke and a stupid move but probably half of it was doing corrupt business with Americans money. Its not an easy subject

            • AA5B@lemmy.world
              0·
              2 years ago

              I very much doubt it, and the white house press secretary holding up a contract that was lawfully fulfilled as an example of fraud, is not going to cut it

              I’m more worried about future fraud, if we really do continue spending the money but at personal whim and with no one to manage the process. A no-bid procurement order describing $400M of “armored Tesla’s” is a much clearer case of fraud, as-is firing inspectors and watchdogs for doing their job

      • phx@lemmy.ca
        0·
        2 years ago

        Yeah, even just kicking out these crazies isn’t a good fix because they’ve already demonstrated they’re more than willing to lie, cheat, and steal to hold on to or gain power.

        The only justice I’d trust would need to come at the end of a rope, and it’d need to include a LOT of colluders at the very least in cells as well. That includes certain media organizations that helped enable this shit-show as well.

        After all that, the American public needs to force better, including proper regulation and enforcement of public over corporate interests. While some of it has been astroturfing, the embedded cleptocracy and corporate interest in the Democratic party also needs to be fixed (or both parties turfed and new better choices), because “lesser evil” is not good enough.

        Other countries should also take heed from the US situation. This is what happens when you continually tolerate the intolerable, and when your government is owned by a billionaire+ untouchable aristocracy with a corporate shield protecting them from consequences.

        • SabinStargem@lemmings.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          I would argue that America needs a whole new economic system. A big problem with what we had up to now, is that people are too poor, tired, unable to form communities, and lack the time to do all the things that are needed for a democracy. If you can’t afford the price of travel, shelter, food, and losing your job, you can’t visit Washington to protest, let alone long enough to make a difference with like-minded people.

          The wealthy, on the other paw, can freely travel, network, and simply not worry about being ruined if they dare to do something beyond basic survival.

          America needs an economic system that promotes agency of every single citizen. That means guaranteeing survival, ensuring enough vacation time to permit protesting, and decent wealth accumulation for the poorest American. Without that, it isn’t possible for the ordinary person to exert meaningful political influence.

          • TotalCourage007@lemm.eeEnglish
            0·
            2 years ago

            You mean we should stop enslaving citizens to corporations yes? That is practically capitalist kryptonite.

            I don’t believe anyone should be able to be worth billions if we actually value humanity.

      • DarthKaren@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        As much as I agree, it will take things getting a lot worse before people do anything like that. A lot of the most heavily armed are the ones who voted for this. The pickup full of hillbillies are still in the denial phase. They still think things won’t affect them, or that it’ll be temporary. They are all for “those people” taking the brunt of the actions right now. They’ve convinced themselves that only the “libtards” are affected, and they aren’t.

        It’s going to take a deep hit to their way of life for anything more than peaceful protests and voting advocacy (which definitely fucking vote) happens.

    • DarkSpectrum@lemmy.world
      0·
      2 years ago

      I don’t think a lot of Americans are grasping exactly how hard we fucked ourselves by refusing to responsibly inform ourselves even to a minimal degree.

      This! Methods that lower general intelligence:

      • Content Streaming - its starts with Bluey

      • Gaming - iPads have replaced paper in schools, in car trips colourful gems pop instead of engagement with the world. Adults game the night away, streaming live. Kids aspire to be them.

      • Social media - Algorithms, echo-chambers, bots, keyboard warriors, content cencorship and manipulation, advertising, yuck.

      • Dating Apps

      • AI - We’ll become dependent and lower general critical thinking skills.

      • Legalisation of marijuana. - Its political support should be a concern. While it may be seemingly harmless at an individual level, there seems to be issues with mass use. How many users abstained from voting?

      • Underfunded, cookie cutter lower education. There is no flexibility for the diversity of people and development potentials. Teaching children non-denominational meditation and concentration, or helping them observe but reconcile simple contradictory expressions of duality in existence, would strengthen their conciousness significantly.

      • Over emphasis on technical STEM in higher-education without equally supporting the arts and philosophy.

      • Cultural over-emphasis towards individual monetary wealth over knowledge, spirituality or even concern for the wealth of those around them. Prevents empathy.

      All of these focus on separating the individual from other individuals. The darkness does not want connected families or communities. It wants you to feel alone, helpless and willing to hand over your power.

      We have all seen the US police force’s brutality under democratic law. How much worse could it be under authoritarian rule? My advice would be to immediately set up public meetings with local law enforcement at the officer level, start a collaborative dialogue and get to know each other, fast.

      • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        If you think Bluey lowers kids intelligence or “separates the individual from other individuals” then you’ve never watched Bluey.

        It’s a great resource for teaching emotional intelligence to kids and empathises the importance of quality time with family. I don’t think you could have picked a worse children’s TV show example.

      • DanVctr@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        2 years ago

        You had me on your side until you went in on weed. Let’s focus on the bigger issue of alcohol addiction and drunk driving before we go after something less harmful.

  • thisorthatorwhatever@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 years ago

    The U.S.A. is done. Such sabotage by Trump, Musk and MAGA takes decades to recover from. 40 to 50 at least; rebuilding the civil service, amending all the laws back to normal, fixing the Supreme Court, probably needing Constitutional amendments. This easily echos for a hundred years.

    • DarkFuture@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Yup.

      It will take decades of scraping and clawing things through Congress to get back what we’re going to lose in a few short years. Assuming our government is even recognizable by the end of this.

      If you have the means, it may actually be time to make another country home. If you don’t, you need to come to terms that you will probably spend the rest of your life living in a declining nation where your rights are threatened.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        2 years ago

        Honestly theres a good chance that the US may collapse, its tied pretty thoroughly to capitalism which is also showing signs of hitting its end point. Its possible that within the next four years even that the US will be 50 individual countries with the federal government no longer existing. The very problems that are allowing Trump and Musk to wreck shit is the same type of problems that collapse empires, and theres no American equivalent to Russia for the USSR or Serbia for Yugoslavia.

      • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
        0·
        2 years ago

        a century of “Red Scare” has made you believe that everything evil in the world is russian.

        While such a simplistic worldview might help you retain sanity in this world, if you look closely, it is the opposite of helpful, as it prevents you from seeing things as they are, and taking effective action.

        • lumpenproletariat@quokk.auEnglish
          0·
          2 years ago

          Years of mindless propaganda is what lead to you believe Russia’s very obvious involvement in tampering with US election is simply people buying into outdated cold war tropes.

        • Jumpingspiderman@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 years ago

          Red Scare refers to the Commies under the bed fantasies of the Cold War. Russia hasn’t been communist/socialist since Yeltsin. Russia is now a mafia kleptocracy. And mafia Russia is a hostile foreign power. Opposition to Putin and Russian criminality is not a red scare thing because communism isn’t what’s the problem or the source of opposition to Putin’s Russia. It’s Russian mobsters who all report to Putin, who also owns and controls Trump and much of the GOP

    • Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      2 years ago

      Even if they get rid of pedo-Don, Fox will tell them everything that went wrong is because of Clinton and the woke and they will be like “YeAh dAMn woke-dei-sjw-blm dEsTroyIng ma cUntrY”.

      It’s over. That’s the consequence of decades of under-educating their citizen and raw capitalism. The only question that remain is how much of the world down they will bring down with them.

    • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
      0·
      2 years ago

      … you are implying that “people will try to make things return to normal in the future”.

      But i think that take is misinformed.

      Progress on Earth is coming to an end, and as a direct consequence, demand for human labor is plummeting, and that makes wages drop. (Consider the labor market is a market and the human effort is the traded good, and a decreased demand makes prices go down. And prices are wages.) That is the major cause for the increasing “working poor” phenomenon.

      If you want to improve worker’s living condition, you have to advocate for Universal Basic Income (UBI). Wages alone will not be sufficient in the future to retain an acceptable quality-of-life.

      Let me update my take on this:

      I understand you Americans are all so “hard work is the major content of my life” like. And that is fine. If you think that you can fix your labor market, do it. Though if you ask me, progress on Earth can not continue. There is neither quantitative nor qualitative growth that would lead to mass employment of most of the population.

      The long-term plan for humanity that I see is that humans will develop spaceflight and go to Mars. There will be lots of space and technological challenges that will demand a lot of human labor-input, and that will keep the wages up, the people working and in full employment, and probably have a few other side-effects. However, future progress cannot meaningfully happen on Earth. I want to be clear on that.

  • loudiamond@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    2 years ago

    I have an idea, normal thinking Americans do

    I also have an idea of how many billions of dollars in lawsuits taxpayers will be on the hook for in the coming 25 years

  • akilou@sh.itjust.works
    0·
    2 years ago

    I’m a federal employee. You have no idea the stress my family and I have been dealing with since that motherfucker swore in.

    • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
      0·
      2 years ago

      A relative of mine is a state employee… he had two reports that’d applied for transfer to the equivalent federal departments… and those two have now withdrawn their requests.

      I wish you the best of luck and I thank you for your contribution to public well being.

      • akilou@sh.itjust.works
        0·
        2 years ago

        They wouldn’t have been hired anyway. We had people who were supposed to start on Monday, January 27th. On Thursday the 23rd, their offers were rescinded and we were told they wouldn’t be starting. I can only imagine. Of course they had already quit their previous job. Now what the fuck are they doing?

        • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          2 years ago

          Dirt? Guy is a convicted felon, says and does monstrous things openly, and denies things he just did on video the day before. He promoted a violent attack on his own government. He is dirt, he lives dirt. Unless it’s a video of him literally beheading dozens of kittens, I can’t imagine it would give him any leverage. Not even sure if that would either sadly.

          • Refurbished Refurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org
            0·
            2 years ago

            Trump’s comment about Elon who “knows those computers very well” relating to voting machines makes me think that all the other crimes he did before are small fries comparitively to what Elon has on him/what Trump owes Elon.

            Trump allowing himself to be openly cucked by Elon repeatedly is not something that he would just let happen without something big going on behind the scenes. Trump is a massive narcissist, and he is not afraid to tell people to fuck off normally if they steal his spotlight or slightly disagree with him. Just look at his last administration for plenty of examples.

          • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
            0·
            2 years ago

            The scariest thing is that even if Musk or Trump were to film and upload themselves ritualistically murdering kittens, their followers would call it fake AI. There’d be nothing anyone could do or say to convince them otherwise, short of them witnessing the slaughter in-person with their own eyes (and even that might not do it.)

            There’s no way that the release of so much generative AI last year, just before this election, was a coincidence. Fascists got this shiny new tool for denying reality, and now they’re free to dismiss photos and videos without question or repercussion.

          • Kalysta@lemm.ee
            0·
            2 years ago

            The one thing Trump seems afraid of is Epstein related dirt.

            That’s likely the dirt Musk holds.

        • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 years ago

          and probably holds dirt over Trump.

          Possibly that Trump wasn’t legally elected and Elmo rigged the election for him. It would explain Trump’s servile attitude in the oval office earlier. Elmo’s fucking kid basically told Trump to STFU.

          • Maeve@midwest.social
            0·
            2 years ago

            Parkrose Permaculture did an excellent video on that press conference and the dark implications of the child’s words. Jordan Lund removed my comment from politics because videos aren’t allowed. I’m beginning to wonder if this is denial or active aid.

    • Australis13@fedia.io
      0·
      2 years ago

      I don’t live in the US, but I did want to just say that as an outsider I appreciate the effort you are putting in, especially given the hostile working environment.

  • WatDabney@sopuli.xyz
    0·
    2 years ago

    Not personally and directly, no, but broadly, yes - I do know the irreversible damage they’re doing.

    And here’s the real key to it all - none of it is accidental. The damage is the point.

    Their goal is actually very simple - it’s to utterly destroy every aspect of the government that benefits the common people or inconveniences the wealthiest few, in order to convert it explicitly and entirely into a mechanism for protecting and expanding the privilege of the wealthiest few at the expense of everyone else.

    • gt5@lemm.ee
      0·
      2 years ago

      If they wanted to reduce spending in a meaningful way, they would at least look at the defense spending

      • Kalysta@lemm.ee
        0·
        2 years ago

        The problem is Trump voters aren’t literate.

        And there are a lot of them.

      • BrotherL0v3@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        It burns my ass that some folks actually bought the whole “Trump doesn’t support Project 2025” bullshit. I cannot imagine being such a gullible, credulous moron.

        • Gork@lemm.ee
          0·
          2 years ago

          Not just support it, but that he never even heard of it. (Then goes on to say that he doesn’t agree with it lol)

        • Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          2 years ago

          No, the majority of the voting population accepted Trump’s lies as truth. That doesn’t mean they support what’s happening, it means they were credulous enough to believe that it wouldn’t happen.

          Wallowing in mistruths about your fellow voters may feel good, in a righteous anger sort of way, but it will blind you to the real opportunities for resistance that exist and can be exploited if enough people try.

          They want you to be demoralized. Why are you doing their work for them?

        • pivot_root@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 years ago

          Let’s assume you’re correct, and you got that fact from an actual survey and statistical analysis that has undergone peer-review. It really doesn’t come as a surprise that there are masses of people cheering on policies that work against their own interests.

          The American public education system is a disaster that can barely teach basic adulting, let alone critical thinking or identifying untrustworthy reporting. Add in how most of the past century has been nonstop propaganda about how showing compassion to anyone outside your family is socialism, and socialism is communism, and communism is the antichrist. Now, throw in a heaping dose of social media and viral misinformation where the loudest person making the most emotionally reactive claims gets the most attention and positive reinforcement.

          It’s really no wonder that a majority of people are metaphorically, ritualisticly throwing gasoline onto a tire fire while complaining about the toxic fumes that surround them. They literally lack the skills to know any better.

          • kofe@lemmy.worldEnglish
            0·
            2 years ago

            Keeping in mind it’s a majority of the voting population. Millions sat out that didn’t in 2020. Millions more don’t show up consistently because they’ve been systematically conditioned into apathy or forced to jump through hoops they can’t prepare for like voter id laws or polling stations being shut down. Same issue - they lack the media literacy or just reading comprehension in general at times.

        • Freefall@lemmy.world
          0·
          2 years ago

          That would be the lie they are pushing. He doesn’t “have a mandate” and a minority group of the placrual population votes for this.

        • Kalysta@lemm.ee
          0·
          2 years ago

          Um no. Trump was elected by something like 32% of the population.

          That is hardly the majority. It’s a vocal minority of assholes who reliably vote.