Distract? Targeting a celeb is a distraction, but not from Epstein. It's a power move saying he plans to strip rights from any enemy, regardless of what the law says. He plans to disappear anyone with his Gestapo, from famous people that cause problems to scapegoats the fascists tell him to.
As evil as his Epstein shit might be, it is a crime of the past that cannot be undone. Conversely, him sending anyone he pleases to deathcamps is an active danger in the present and future.
What pressure? Unless they're about to take up arms, conservative voters have no way to have their concerns make a difference. Republican politicians have no ability to seriously question Trump, as he's thoroughly shaped them into an army of yesmen by now. Even if they switched sides to join the Democrats, that party has already shown a complete unwillingness to meaningfully push back against fascism. There's really not much they can even imagine to do.
Leading up to the election, they really could not make a single politically wise decision to save their lives. They doubled down on out of touch rich people as their base, and are only tripling down now. Despite left wing politicians doing well while centrists languished, they think that a more feudal future where the poors have died or can't vote will save them. They're doing everything they can to prevent left wing opposition from existing so people can only choose politicians who openly don't represent them.
Translation: "most Americans will not be represented by our party"
Democrats and Republicans both seek to represent billionaire interests more than any other. The Democrats see billionaires unhappy with the fascist order not being totally under their control, so they seek to reshape the party to attract them.
This is why I say we need to leave the party behind; they are dead set on abandoning popular policies and that cannot go unanswered. By continuing to vote blue, we'd be embracing apathy. The dream of a better future dead in the water. Land of the slaves and home of the cowards.
Absolutely not. They were systematically shaped into cowardly yesmen before Trump reascended to the presidency. It's why he drove out Kevin McCarthy out despite his loyalty, and why he chose JD Vance as his VP. It's why billionaires and capitalists feel "politically homeless" right now; Trump is the party and no independent power is allowed. If they seriously threaten him, he has the full violence of a dictator with his own personal police force. He's burning through America's imperial power to solidify his own position, and that well is far too deep to soon run dry.
Assassination or more likely death from old age are the only way this nightmare ends.
Bold to assume this nightmare is still tied to 4 year election cycles anymore. He's never leaving office alive, and after him there's a gaggle of oligarchs who will be looking for new strategies of pillaging.
The only difference is how much damage each is currently capable of doing. The former would be just as bad given the means, while the latter currently has the means. I personally think it's better to simply silence and shun fascists without means, while fascists with means should be dealt with in whatever way leads to the most success. That all depends on your own circumstances in relation to them. I suspect harming the interests that support fascism is more effective, as the fascist movement will probably only be strengthened by hurting foot soldiers.
I'm fairly confident these are the Nazi type antisemites, not the "anti-imperialist-genocide "antisemites." Israeli fascists dislike both equally of course, as both would be against subsidizing their bombs and guns.
The New York Times is a bottom of the barrel rag at this point. I blame Transphobia Brainrot Syndrome (TBS), which is where people become so obsessed with taking down trans people that their brains leak out their ears.
My understanding is that this community is US news, not world news. I really hate that it was set up this way, especially on lemmy.world, but that is why most stories here are about Trump. His reign affects every news story in the US, as the context of living under fascism implicitly colors all of them.
Probably because they're cultivating a readership of rich liberals who actually have the money to donate and pay. The media cannot be representative of popular sentiments under a capitalist system, and it only becomes worse with increasing wealth inequality. Economics bend the news to be a propaganda arm of wealthy interests more than a way to provide accurate news. Those with money pay to print what they want to hear and want other people to hear. The world is only built for those with power.
You misunderstand Trump. He might be a symptom, but he is not a sustainable strategy. He rode the wave and no one else will be able to; that is how strongman dictatorships tend to pan out. Everyone from billionaires to normal people will be sick of fascism after this. The billionaires will want a yes man who doesn't extort them or make business volatile, while everyday people will want peace and safety.
In that environment, everyone will want the return of liberal democracy, only US institutions will be permanently weakened. We can't know how the situation will unfold, but oligarchs will seek to solidify their gains while only restoring what benefits them. I personally think a feudal era will occur, with a weak central government that eventually allows for fiefdoms, which could eventually lead to actual civil wars.
I say this shit knowing full well the cost of third parties. I know they vote split and I know our system punishes it. Yet I've learned a valuable lesson from the death of our liberal democratic system: the Democrats will never change. They lost the election by ignoring the youth, assuming they would always have that support even if they repeatedly told us that our opinions don't matter. They pretended the economy was fine and that people shouldn't complain because their measure for a healthy economy was far beyond what people could actually tolerate. They chose capitalism over democracy; simple as that.
Call me an edgy kid, but I've been a voter from the day I was eligible; someone who never missed an opportunity to fulfill my civic duty. And yet I'm the now the one saying that the Democrats are not people we can work with. I'm the one saying that they're closer to the Vichy government than the resistance. We need to break from them because working with them will bear no fruit. They only do good things to serve their own interests, not as payment for left wing support.
and I'd rather those people do something to mitigate this mess than beg for forgiveness