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Post-Trump: III (decline, further tantrums, legal proceedings, book deals etc)

Another interesting Twitter thread from Thom Hartmann. It rings true from this distance, but there is obviously a lot I don’t understand about American politics and history.

It's about right and broadly the same story we had here, although the class war aspect of it was less explicit in America as they didn't have as much of a traditional left as us. The big problem of course is that it's a 40 year counter-factual and even if we hadn't had neoliberal revolutions courtesy of Thatcher and Reagan in the late 70s something else would probably have done similar in the intervening years. There are too many powerful forces influencing this so you kind of need it to fail for the truth of it to be apparent.

So I suspect about the best alternative history ends up with the US and GB being a bit more centre-right rather than further left. Something like a Macron's France or Merkel's Germany.

BTW It would be remiss of me not to point out that former poster Vuk was a big fan of Thom Hartmann going all the way back to his RT days.
 
In addition to the good summary in the Hartmann Twitter thread, what we are seeing in the US is the culmination of a 50-year effort by the Republicans to reverse the social legislation of the 60s and 70s: the Civil Rights Act, school desegregation, Roe v. Wade, etc. Plus all the other stuff that was voted after that, of course. ISTM that race has to be a major part of all that GOP anger, but it doesn't explain everything that a future Republican government will try to push through.
 
Another thread from Thom Hartmann via Supreme Court and 2024 President election:

https://twitter.com/Thom_Hartmann/status/1543079225254559744

Very, very scary.
Scary as hell.

Seems to me the only way to stop this is to elect a Senate this midterm that won't be filibustered. Then we can reign in the Supreme Court.

Miss at that and it's all over, at least as far as preserving Democracy without having to fight a war to do it.
 
Scary as hell.

Seems to me the only way to stop this is to elect a Senate this midterm that won't be filibustered. Then we can reign in the Supreme Court.

Miss at that and it's all over, at least as far as preserving Democracy without having to fight a war to do it.
Didn't one US Representative or Senator (can't remember which) say words to the effect that "we have a republic, not a democracy"?
 
Didn't one US Representative or Senator (can't remember which) say words to the effect that "we have a republic, not a democracy"?
That's a common catchphrase of the right. In plain language it means 'we should run things never mind the votes.'
 
That's a common catchphrase of the right. In plain language it means 'we should run things never mind the votes.'
I guess it ties in with the original Greek idea of democracy, in that only certain "worthy" classes of folk could be entrusted with a say in the affairs of the nation. Given the enthusiasm for Trump no matter what he says or does, you begin to wonder whether the Greeks had a point...
 
I guess it ties in with the original Greek idea of democracy, in that only certain "worthy" classes of folk could be entrusted with a say in the affairs of the nation. Given the enthusiasm for Trump no matter what he says or does, you begin to wonder whether the Greeks had a point...
Ton of irony in that observation, given who goes around saying 'A republic not a democracy!'
 
I guess it ties in with the original Greek idea of democracy, in that only certain "worthy" classes of folk could be entrusted with a say in the affairs of the nation. Given the enthusiasm for Trump no matter what he says or does, you begin to wonder whether the Greeks had a point...

In fairness, an ancient Athenian would likely be pretty horrified by modern versions of what we call ‘democracy’, as to them it would resemble an occasionally elected dictatorship much more than a democracy, which they saw more as a plebiscitary sort of affair.

Albeit that they had some standards which would appall us, they would equally have been appalled by the way we use the notion of democracy to effectively had near total power to a tiny class of people in which psychopaths and grifters are catastrophically over-represented.
 
It is Thoughts & Prayers day again. Highland Park (Chicago) 4th July parade. Shooter apparently white, 18-20, so far-right, incel, or both.

PS One in Denmark yesterday too, same shooter category, though obviously exceptionally rare there.
 
The root cause of most of the problems in US politics is the lack of campaign finance regulation and the revolving door between politics and industry.
No a lot of it comes down to 2 main parties that are both bought and paid for.

EDIT: Lol Eric Swalwell.
 


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