After this's all over, I hope the U.S. gov't bills Trump for the damage he's done to our reputation

[Achtane]

He's going to get pardoned because "we need to heal the country" and my head is gonna explode.

[Achtane]

[goroth]

Dude that’s a total false flag. The metalzone is a not even a real pedal. Just Microsoft antifa propaganda in a refinished boss ds-1 enclosure. They planted it in the Taiwanese factory in early 1991, to prepare for the the storming of the 5G capitol. Ever wondered why US foreign policy is so friendly towards Taiwan?

George fucking Soros.

[goroth]

That’s why boss production shifted from Japan - you’ll remember the Japanese economy was super strong back in the 80s and Steve Wozniak couldn’t pressure the Japanese govt to change the vaccine schematics. Pearl harbour. Wasn’t even a thing. It was just Nancy pelosi in the same green screen as Neil Armstrong and the “moon landing”, making us think the Japanese were our enemies, to allow the chip production to get shifted to the much more compliant Taiwanese govt.

Sheeple.

[Pepe]

My eyes are opened now!!!1

[Lurker13]

All the maga folk are already responding to the twitter ban. The following quote has been circulating

" “When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.”
― George R.R. Martin"

And that's the real problem with all of this. What are you going to do with all the folks who've drunk the coolaid?

That's the biggest problem this country has right now. Forty-five percent of Republicans support the attack on the capital. Over 74 million people voted for Trump, so that implies that about 33 million Americans think what happened Wednesday was a good thing, i.e. about 33,000,000 Americans actually believe, or claim to believe - contrary to all of the evidence - that the election was stolen from Trump. https://www.newsweek.com/45-percent-rep ... ol-1559662

The whole reason this became a thing is not cos Trump was awesome, but because there are a lot of people who don't feel either party sees them or represents their concerns. Rightly or wrongly. They didn't vote for Trump to do good stuff for them, they voted for him to fuck shit up. So even though a lot of stuff he did screwed people over (good luck paying off that trillion dollar tax cut), he delivered on the one thing he promised to deliver on - blowing up the system. All of the stupid shit he did and still does fits into that narrative.

Trump's gone, and people are putting their foot down four years too late, yeah, that's good. But the narrative he created, and the frustration that lead to people believing him are still there. The fact resistance is still there. The lack of representation is still there.

The unfuckening is going to be massively difficult.

I've been thinking obsessively about these things over the last few days.

I've come to the conclusion that politics-as-usual is only one of the problems. The biggest problem is the nonstop demagoguery that has been taking place for decades in American media. For 30 years, Rush Limbaugh has been demonizing the American Left, literally telling people that Democrats and liberals want to "destroy America" - yes, those are the exact words he has used for 30 years - "destroy America". He turned policy and cultural differences into an Enemy Within, preying on people's darkest fears, and he has profited immensely from doing so. Right wing media outlets quickly followed suit, whether for truly ideological reasons, or because it was such a good business model, or both of those reasons.

So, after decades of brainwashing by demagogues, is it any wonder the American Right fell in love with a demagogue? People like people who mirror themselves, and Trump mirrors his base. I've heard them say things like "He isn't too book smart, but he sure is street smart." He throws temper tantrums and swears prolifically. He encouraged violence against protesters at his rallies back in 2015/2016. He declared the free press to be "the enemy of the people". He talked about using nuclear weapons. And most importantly, he is a racist, which they feel justifies all of their racism and white outrage. He has told them all of their darkest fears are true, just like right-wing media has been telling them for years. To his base, despite being filthy rich, he is one of them, but he is also the rich and powerful boss. They see him as someone who understands them, and they think that if he just has enough power, he can somehow make all of their dreams of a better life come true.

Much of Trump's base consists of blue collar people, but America is no longer the blue collar nation it used to be. These are the kind of people who have watched the stock market go up and up and yelled "Good for Trump!" but can't afford to invest in it themselves. The Coronavirus restrictions have squeezed many of them out of whatever jobs they had, and they are desperate. I think the only hope to stop the insanity is to create a more just and equitable society, but when it comes to policy, these people yell "No socialism!" and vote against their own economic self-interest out of ideological purity.

I don't know what the answer to the unfucking is. Perhaps an infrastructure bill that would create blue collar jobs all around the country would be a start. We need an economic recovery in which no one who is willing to work gets left behind. Obviously, that is far, far easier to imagine than to make happen, even for the most well-intentioned politicians.

The other big question is, how do we stop the further radicalization of Americans? Five years ago we did everything we could to stop Islamic-Americans from being radicalized over the internet. But now we have a significant portion of the population being radicalized by American media outlets like Fox, Newsmax, and One America routinely spewing lies and half-truths. These media outlets are owned by billionaires, and hide behind the First Amendment. I don't believe in censorship, but how can it possibly be okay for them to blatantly spread these lies and turn people into domestic terrorists?

Edit: I think my last sentence reflects my own self-conflict over this issue.

[Blackened Soul]

So here is a very important petition. If you could all sign it http://chng.it/FXVwJTt7pZ?fbclid=IwAR24 ... RVf6y6qsiU

[John]

that's a long-ass sperm cell

[jirodreamsofdank]

The thing about Q kooks and authoritarian Republicans is that it's not necessarily different than in the past.

A significant portion of our population being insane has been a constant feature of American life, in the modern era from the John Birch Society to the Moral Majority to the militia movement of the '90s and onward, right-wing psychos have been propped up with rich peoples' money. The militia movement and Satanic Panic, especially, have been collectively forgotten. Half the GOP being openly fascist is only different in that it's more open now.

[D.o.S.]

Bingo.

[Blackened Soul]

now... imagine if you have been saying this for the last 20+ years....

[goroth]

Sounds like someone's been injecting metal zones.

[Chankgeez]

Stop picking on Melania!

[coupleonapkins]

Stop picking on Melania!

It's not YOUR pillow.....it's My Pillow TM

[Blackened Soul]

.it's My Pillow

Here I found your pillow https://www.amazon.com/Novelty-Hilariou ... B0872QBK3S