I didn’t vote for Trump, this is not a justification for anything he is doing, this is purely me trying to find any crumb of hope in this abysmal situation.
The country was in decline for at least a decade before Trump took office. So far everything has been a slow boil and we Americans just take it imo.
Maybe Trump will make everything so awful so quickly it will force actual change. Basically we were slowly heating the water and when it turned lukewarm Trump just cranked the heat up to max, maybe the frog realizes this and jumps out.
Absolutely not, not only will this administration not make anything better everything will become significantly worse. For this example I will assume that there is an election in 2028 (massive assumption, ill get to what if there isnt):
- The Democrats will run a Trump lite but with absolutely nothing Trump had that made him popular, instead the next Democratic candidate will essentially copy Trumps policies but not as bad and more efficiently. See how the Democrats responded to Reagan and Bush.
- When the Democrats go significantly further to the right so will the Republicans, in 2034 the Democrats will be as right wing as Trump is today. This will become the new norm, Fascism will be an openly accepted talking point, and everything will get worse.
- Bipartisan legislation will ensure fascism remains uncontested and nobody will vote third party since thats a “waste of a vote”. People on world and other similar liberal platforms will insist its the fault of third party voters and nonvoters for not voting hard enough. Massive campaigns will occur where the Democrats insist that even though they only ever pass bipartisan legislation and that legislation is always fascist they’re 5% better than the Republicans.
But we may not even have a 2028 election and if so:
- People will make large protests that get shut down quickly.
- Fascism takes hold, few resist
- Things get worse
For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction?
This is overly simple. You can’t legitimately believe that an explanation only focusing on one person is sufficient to predict American politics. Nope, no chance. Meh.
Positive change is not the plan. As per “The Despoiling of America”, the plan is to break American society until people are so destitute they will accept any change. At that point, Trump declares martial law and governs through presidential decree. He uses the special powers he has given himself to remove the separation of church and state and Avada Kadava, you have an evangelical dictatorship. Combined with vote suppression, evangelicals will be in power forever.
Thats called “Accelerationism” and its stupid, as history keeps proving
in a way, i said this and many other on reddit. he will destroy the GOP from within, they are pretty much without power if trump is not in charge, and most of the old guard gop have mostly left
The country was in decline for at least a decade before Trump took office.
Well 4 years of that decade was Trump being in office, and 4 other years was the result of people being willing to vote in literally anyone who wasn’t him. So really 8 years of that decade was Trump’s fault. And the other two years? Not bad.
As for the rest, Trump is cutting funding for research like crazy. That won’t just affect things today, that’s going to make stuff shitty for decades. And that’s exactly the kind of harm that the emotion-laden American news and social media simply won’t cover. So I don’t think there will be a backlash, rather the opposite - politicians will realize bullying scientists, government agencies, immigrants, and other voiceless Trump targets is just good politics, and keep doing it.
Of course future prediction is hard, so who knows what will happen. But I’m not seeing the path for this to turn around anytime soon. The same media that created MAGA, and made it even more popular 4 years after it proved itself to be a horrific disaster is the same media we have today. Democrats will probably win the next two elections because people can see what Trump is doing in real time, but after that I have no hope for America. If I have to predict the future, I’d guess the EU becomes the new global leader, driven by relatively high democracy and pro-science policies compared to the rest of the world. This could even occur in a relatively short time frame, like 5 years.
I kinda had the same “look on the bright side” outlook for Covid and was disappointed.
If the Reagan administration’s legacy is any indication, no, no it won’t. Things will continue being fucked and getting worse decades from now.
This post breaks literally rules #1, #2 and #3 of this community. Crazy.
Mods please wake up and DO YOUR JOB.
A Political Compass meme, in a Lemmy post’s comment section?
Reading these responses is so sad. I can see that a large number of people on here have fully embraced cynicism and active pessimism. This is the most damaging attitude possible when trying to create change. If you have this mindset, you’re not only not helping to make positive change, you’re actively working to drain any energy from those who might be in a better and more productive place than you.
To the OP, don’t give up hope. There are thousands of people around the country working right now to change things and resist the downfall of our country in whatever ways they can. The number is growing every day with each new outrage and attack, and energy is building quickly. If you can’t donate your time, donate your money to progressive organizations (look up the 50501 project for help finding them).
Nothing is going to change with blind optimism, but history is on our side, and it shows that when things start to hurt for people in their day to day lives, real change is possible. This is not the first fascist takeover in history, and it won’t be the last. Some older folks have literally lived through similar times in our own country (see: McCarthyism for example). Nothing is inevitable and no one can predict the future, no matter how believable their claims may sound.
To the cynics, you’re absolutely allowed to feel how you feel. I feel quite cynical myself a lot of the time, too. Just remember that when you mock and shout down people trying to move forward, you help create the future you’re so resigned to. Not all of us are so ready to roll over and take it. If you won’t help, please at least get out of the way.
/soapbox
Thought this would happen the first time, woke up to him winning again.
Shit needs to get a lot worse before it gets better apparently
Nah. Accelerationism is pure bunk with exactly zero evidence supporting it. Things getting worse just makes it harder to make them better.
Except, you know, most of human history. Can’t overthrow an evil regime if there isn’t one.
Thanks for saying it. People on here really seem to think this is the first fascist regime in history.
People forgot what Trump was like 4 years ago and re elected him. So no, it will not facilitate any change.
I like how people think destroying everything will somehow result in a future where people are empathetic.
Agreed; that jackass has pushed me firmly into the “let leopards eat all their faces” camp as opposed to giving a shit WHY they’re so fuckin stupid anymore.
It’s more about the less people have to lose the more they are willing to risk
When the people end up with nothing left to lose, things tend to get exceptionally shitty for a few generations. Then it’s a die toss to figure out if what comes after that is any better or not.
It’s not really a die toss because the people with power maintain that power and have the most influence in what comes out of that shit-pool. It needs a functional shakeup at the deepest level, and not superficial changes at the surface level to make an effective difference. Otherwise things will just continue to repeat until we destroy ourselves. The problem is that kind of shakeup requires that people remain vigilant and involved for their entire lives, which isn’t going to happen if their only concern is that their own lives are getting disrupted and they want it to go back to par, which is our current standoff.
Phoenix?
