Trump Redux: The Death of Democracy, or Overblown Hyperbole?

[Lexi Darling]

I think this only applies to children if I'm reading it correctly.

Yes, it does. I was using my friend as an example of someone who would be completely fucked without meds; I know it won't affect her specifically. But people like her, like can you imagine how many teenagers have been helped by antidepressants etc? I know I was, and quite frankly I don't know if I'd be here without them. These people are needlessly undoing shit that actually helps people, with no suggested alternative treatments, and given how anti-science they are I'm terrified at the prospects.

Not to mention there is precedent re: adults, Trump's EO on gender affirming care says clinics who prescribe it "at any age" could be "investigated" and defunded; RFK has those proposed camps for people who take medication, I wouldn't rule out adults being affected by this sometime down the line. Frankly I think it's bad enough that they're doing it to minors.

Edit: people are already reporting this is happening.

https://bsky.app/profile/qasimrashid.com/post/3libguxanwc26

[SGR]

DOGE prepares gold reserve 'audit' after top Republican invites Elon Musk to review Fort Knox

This might get interesting - the last audit of the 'largest gold reserve in the US' happened in 1974. 50 years ago. A true audit though would require an assay of each bar to ensure that it's all truly gold. That would be expensive and time consuming. Though the desire to do this is definitely a throwback to Ron Paul.

Ron Paul worries Fort Knox gold is gone, CNN - 2011

If it happens though, and all the gold is not there, there's gonna be some questions.

[DJChameleon]

https://x.com/JoJoFromJerz/status/1890252571522347450?t=0ZCH2JWqU0b7B16xchlagg&s=19


Let all those Trump voters suffer. I have no empathy for them. They were too stupid and fell for his con.

[Trollheart]

Yeah there's blame to be heaped on the useless Dems but really, American Trump voters have no excuse. They saw a preview of how Trump was in power, and they thought, what: let's have that times a million?? Sometimes you do have to wonder a) where people leave their brains and b) how people can be so self-compartamentlised, that they will only see what (they think) will  benefit them and ignore all the really bad stuff that clearly is going to happen.

Here's my analogy, just thought up now: Two people in a car, heading over a cliff.
Passenger: "We're going to crash! We're going to die!"
Driver: "Shut up! I love this song on the radio!"
Passenger: "But you won't be able to hear it if we're DEAD!"
Driver (humming along): "I'll worry about that when it happens. Listen to that solo!"
Passenger (frantic): "It's happening NOW! LOOK!"
Driver (looking): "OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIII......!"

I also blame those who did not vote, who could have potentially stopped this had they got off their arses and into polling stations. "All that is necessary for evil to triumph" etc.

[DJChameleon]

Yeah the Dems in charge didn't give people a good enough reason to vote for them. So some people stayed at home or threw away their vote on that grifter Jill Stein.

[Jwb]

Glad you asked.  Here's how

Step 1: write manifesto
Step 2: ? ? ?
Step 3: profit

Nobody even remembers the name of the CEO that Luigi killed. People got to have their little moment of feeling like the billionares are trembling with fear.  But that's clearly an illusion.  Elon is raping our future right in front of the entire world.  And nobody is going to do shit about it. A nation full of well armed retards who are eager to be some South Africans slaves. So pathetic. Where's Mario when you need him?

[Jwb]

DOGE prepares gold reserve 'audit' after top Republican invites Elon Musk to review Fort Knox

This might get interesting - the last audit of the 'largest gold reserve in the US' happened in 1974. 50 years ago. A true audit though would require an assay of each bar to ensure that it's all truly gold. That would be expensive and time consuming. Though the desire to do this is definitely a throwback to Ron Paul.

Ron Paul worries Fort Knox gold is gone, CNN - 2011

If it happens though, and all the gold is not there, there's gonna be some questions.

yes,  great idea! Let the oligarch count all our gold while he's at it, and trust him to faithfully report back to us how much of it is missing!

[Lucem Ferre]

https://x.com/JoJoFromJerz/status/1890252571522347450?t=0ZCH2JWqU0b7B16xchlagg&s=19


Let all those Trump voters suffer. I have no empathy for them. They were too stupid and fell for his con.

Nah. This kind of behavior not only shows a lack of caring about people over ideas, but it isolates your movement from people when you revel in their suffering.

Nobody deserves to starve. Everybody deserves the chance to grow. Most of these people are just ignorant and if ignorance was a crime we'd all be locked up at some point.

[Auroras In Ice]

Nah. This kind of behavior not only shows a lack of caring about people over ideas, but it isolates your movement from people when you revel in their suffering.

Nobody deserves to starve. Everybody deserves the chance to grow. Most of these people are just ignorant and if ignorance was a crime we'd all be locked up at some point.

100%

I get the urge to see these people suffer, especially with my country's very existence being under threat, but it's not something that makes anything better for anyone. Nobody has to like MAGA people (I certainly fucking don't), but there's two main reasons why it's better to keep an off-ramp open for them. First is that as they themselves get screwed, they are in a position to be turned against Trumpism. Second is that the more alienated and humiliated they become as the consequences are reaped, the more likely they will be to double, triple, and quadruple down and be susceptible to even more extreme and horrific outcomes. Very similar to how people in cults keep tumbling down the rabbit hole. Part of why Trump isn't slowing down is because he will come back to the supporters he's hurt and tell them it's because they didn't go hard enough after their scapegoats and they need to enact even crueler and worse policies. Demagoguery is how he built his cultish base in the first place. MAGA will become even more dangerous the more they're pushed into increasingly vulnerable positions, but that's also when you actually have a window to maybe reach them.

[DJChameleon]

Nah. This kind of behavior not only shows a lack of caring about people over ideas, but it isolates your movement from people when you revel in their suffering.

Nobody deserves to starve. Everybody deserves the chance to grow. Most of these people are just ignorant and if ignorance was a crime we'd all be locked up at some point.

Those people don't care about others so why should I care about them. Fuck taking the high road bullshit. They deserve to suffer for their ignorance. Their ignorance is causing harm to others.

MAGA is a lost cause there is no reaching them. That's just wishful thinking on your part.

[jimmy jazz]

Nah. This kind of behavior not only shows a lack of caring about people over ideas, but it isolates your movement from people when you revel in their suffering.

Nobody deserves to starve. Everybody deserves the chance to grow. Most of these people are just ignorant and if ignorance was a crime we'd all be locked up at some point.

Totally agree. I was going to say something similar but I stopped myself.

There was a Tory voter who ended up turning on the Tories when they cut working tax credits and it affected her and she had a go at a Tory politician on Question Time (UK politics talk show). She got a lot of abuse and hatred online. If you want people to come over to your way of thinking then that isn't the way to go about things.

Those people don't care about others so why should I care about them. Fuck taking the high road bullshit. They deserve to suffer for their ignorance. Their ignorance is causing harm to others.

MAGA is a lost cause there is no reaching them. That's just wishful thinking on your part.

You lost. You need to convince people you're right and they're wrong. If you want to continue losing elections then carry on.

[SGR]

yes,  great idea! Let the oligarch count all our gold while he's at it, and trust him to faithfully report back to us how much of it is missing!

To your point, there would be a serious credibility issue if Elon/DOGE was deeply involved in an audit like this one. More to the point, auditing the gold in Fort Knox isn't really in the purview of DOGE - which has essentially subsumed the Obama-created USDS - it's basically the government geek squad, but you can't audit the gold reserves in Fort Knox with database queries and Excel spreadsheets. In other words, the pimply faced college recruits of DOGE simply aren't qualified to inventory, assay and test the purity of a gold hoard. What's really needed if this audit were to happen is an independent (not government affiliated) entity - after all, you don't ask the fox outside the henhouse to go in and tell you how many chickens are there - again though, this whole process, were a full audit to be conducted, would be very time consuming and very expensive. Right now, it's just bullshitting on Twitter, and it's very possible there's no real life or desire to this. I guess we'll see in due time.

There's so much secrecy and smokescreens around gold reserve holdings. I think it was back in the early 2010s, Germany and the Bundesbank had to move heaven and earth to try and inspect their gold holdings which were stored in the basement of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. And there's been much criticism over the years about how China devalues the yuan, manipulates its markets, and isn't transparent about how much gold it has. I don't think America has much of a leg to stand on when it comes to criticizing China when they seemingly can't be bothered to perform an audit on their biggest gold depository in over 50 years. It's possible that rather than having less gold than is publicly stated (as many fear), we might actually have more.

[DJChameleon]

You lost. You need to convince people you're right and they're wrong. If you want to continue losing elections then carry on.

Establishment Dems lost and they will continue to lose not from ignoring populous issues.

It has nothing to do with the Maga cult. Also you are talking in terms of tribalism. I don't care about that.

[jimmy jazz]

Establishment Dems lost and they will continue to lose not from ignoring populous issues.

It has nothing to do with the Maga cult. Also you are talking in terms of tribalism. I don't care about that.

Lol.

[DJChameleon]

Lol.

You obviously don't know the intricacies and only think there are two sides.