4grams

the very same day…

I’m gonna vote in 4 years for a better president.

Just like they vote against putin and orban.

I’m using it as shorthand for all the obvious criminality of the man. To elaborate, he’s a rapist, a 34 time convicted felon who steals from charity, cheats students, stiffs everyone he owes, a man who stole our national secrets, salutes and uplifts dictators, has expressed his desire to be one multiple times on the campaign trail, cages children and ran campaign focused solely on retribution and outright lies about immigrants, women and minorities.

This was an argument that could have been made during his first run; but this time, we all knew exactly what we were voting for.

friend, you and I are saying the same thing.

You would think people would learn that republicans tend to wreck the economy just for democrats to fix it, and republicans to shit all over any progress that’s been made again, but just like dogs aren’t smart enough to learn that a snake bite’s venomous bite could kill them an hour later, Americans can’t seem to grasp the concept of economic momentum and that changes made in one term may not be immediately fixed - especially if the previous guy smeared his shit all over the bathroom walls before he left. It’s understandable it will take some time to clean up.

I totally understand why it happened, and yeah, I agree it was economic issues, and inflation and so forth. And I even agree it’s not an America thing. This is just a human thing, and humans by and large are kinda awful.

this is because people want easy, quick answers that make them feel good. An old comment of mine from this site sums it up:

as I have climbed higher in the corporate world, this is becoming clearer and clearer. people respond far better to a confident idiot than they do a pensive expert.

Enough were fine with it.

Right, so enough wanted the rapist, the rest were just ok with it. Lovely country, beautiful people.

Glad you still have faith in the system. I don’t, doesn’t matter what the dems put forward, people are lazy and stupid and will not do any research. I mean, take a look at all the morons who are googling “what’s a tariff” now that he’s been elected.

Pissed is one thing, but we just did the equivalent of shooting ourselves in the head instead of taking a Tylenol for a headache.

People are stupid, lazy and selfish, they want the easy solutions, they want the one weird trick, they want the fix now instead of realizing that change is long and gradual. Well, we’re about to get drastic change, best of luck everyone. I’m not fan of dems, but we had the ability to pressure them, got Biden to drop out. Do you think for a second that trump will be able to be pressured into anything that isn’t his own self interest?

I was with you for the first election, but every last person who voted for him, or who felt like it wasn’t worth getting off the couch to prevent trump is responsible for this, full stop. I’m so goddamned tired of people acting like not a single person had any agency in this, like we had two equal but opposite choices. No, this one was easy and obvious and we just showed the world our true colors.

God I am so tired of the post-mortems already. everyone is so obsessed to find the one little things that they did wrong. What was the one weird trick that could have shown america the correct path.

This time it was beyond obvious. This country simply wanted a rapist, a criminal, they wanted a man who praises dictators and has proclaimed that he is going to be one (good luck with that 1 day thing). Enough Americans looked at the two choices and the majority of this country decided to give fascism a try.

We have never been here before. I keep having to remind people that the Supreme Court has granted the president essentially dictatorial powers. and now a rapist, a 34 time convicted felon, who’s jailed children, defrauded students, stolen from charity, stolen our national secrets, promised to release violent criminals, one who’s praised dictators, while expressing his intentions to be one, and promising his supporters that they will not have to vote again.

There are no checks and balances left, this man now controls all three branches of the government because the other two have both shown repeatedly that they will let him get away with anything.

Come this January, democracy is dead, we will be living under a trump dictatorship.

Right, I barely scratched the surface.

Sure, go ask the average turnip voter if her neoliberal stances were why they voted for the rapist, 34 time convicted felon who cages children, is literally traded on the stock market and has nothing but praise for dictators, in fact who expressed his desire to be one multiple times on the campaign trail.

You folks are so desperate to not blame the majority of people who chose to either vote for that, or were at least comfortable with him as their leader.

no, not really, not in comparison anyway. I’m no dem fan but when given the option to shoot myself in the head vs. taking a tylenol for a headache, I don’t have to think real hard about that one.

again, given the choice between a rapist, a 34 times convicted felon, one who defrauds students, cages children, takes away human rights, praises nazi’s and dictators; and a minority woman with an annoying laugh, folks thought it was worth either pulling the lever for the fascist or just letting the fascist take power.

fuck kamala, fuck biden, but we could work with them, we could put pressure on them. hell, we got biden to drop out. good luck pressuring donald fucking trump to do anything that isn’t entirely self-serving.

turnip won because more people voted for him than kamala. more people in this nation were willing to elect a rapist, a 34 times convicted felon, one who defrauds students, cages children, takes away human rights, praises nazi’s and dictators. if you couldn’t be bothered to turn up to fight against that, well…

the system is shit, but we, at least used to have control of it. I hope we still do but the winner has already told us that he will be a dictator and we won’t have to vote again.

“The American experiment endures,”

I would say it just failed. I’m sorry but a system that elects a rapist, a 34 times convicted felon, one who defrauds students, cages children, takes away human rights, praises nazi’s and dictators, and this was just the first term. I’m sorry but by any metric I care to meaure it by this is a failed experiment.

weird that we chose a fascist instead then.

I used to think this, not anymore, this one was obvious, everyone who pulled that lever, knew what they were voting for.

K, sorry, felt like you were defending the greens and wasn’t sure where you were going…

I agree completely. But there was one before the election, and one before that, and one before that. Nothing good ever happens at once, it takes long and gradual change. I’m with you on the no real choice this time around but despite that, we got it objectively wrong. Point is a vote ain’t enough, and I blame stupid, lazy, simple minded people for that.

Kamala wasn’t a savior, but if people understood that progress is incremental and hard, they wouldn’t have voted for turnip. I blame the system yes, but we should be smart enough to play the game. We’re about to get what we asked for.

Anyway. Again sorry for being a shithead, I’m most certainly blowing off steam. Again, a little triggered by what I felt was the thinking that got us here. But again, my words are directed at the words, not the people. I’m usually a lot nicer when I’m not facing looming fascism.

this is very much the democrats and republicans (the greens really did nothing) show.

I disagree, dems, republicans, greens, etc., they do what they always do, try to amass as much power as they can. It’s up to us to look at those choices that we have and make a good one. Usually it’s fairly inconsequential, often time it’s not though, and so it’s ultimately up to us to be informed and make the best choice. Saying things like you will never vote for a party again, when they are just another side of the same dice, is the sort of thinking that we actively MUST avoid.

We have a broken system, but at least up until now, we had the ultimate power to change it. We sure did this time, I sincerely hope we can do it again. If so, I pray we ALL take it seriously.

No, I do not want anyone to swallow pride for a particular party you dense moron. I have said repeatedly that you should vote for issues, and the greater good regardless of party. What I am arguing against is an asshole who said that because he wasn’t thanked enough that they can burn next time because he won’t vote for their team anymore.

Yeah, I’ve been an asshole myself here, I’m a random angry internet jerk who’s pissed off about the election, but to be frank more pissed off at the selfish sort of behavior that got us here. It’s not the democrats, it’s not the republicans, it’s not the Green Party, it’s the people who voted for them (and the specific people they voted for).

I am hot, I am upset, but again, it’s pretty obvious what my target is here. It’s not just the folks who did this it’s the ones who are refusing to learn from it and in fact give in to the exact same problem that got us here.

“I won’t ever vote for a democrat again” is the same team bullshit that to us here. And bolstered by the revenge bullshit for not being grateful. That is TOXIC, and that is the sort of thinking that got us here.

This is the internet, we swear here.

Ok, so we’re at an impasse here. I do not find this line of thinking defensible and I do think this is the words of an asshole:

“Saving the nation from fascism and preserving their own rights, freedoms and lives in the process wasn’t a good enough reason to speak to people like me with respect. And now they can burn for it. And they’re going to blame me for it, just like they’ve blamed me for everything their entire lives.”

I’m in that exact same boat but I don’t give one single shit about not being thanked, nor for being blamed. Maybe it’s because I am a father and I don’t really live for myself but doesn’t matter because it’s not something that makes me feel bad. Men are a problem, men should do better, and they should do it because they are good, not because they deserve it, or they want thanks. Doing the good is the reward. My life’s guiding principal is the old Paul Wellstone canard: “we all do better when we all do better”. In the end, I’m just as selfish as everyone else because ultimately I’m after my own happiness and fascism, suffering, exploitation, cheating, etc. is antithetical to it.

I can already hear responses, yes both sides are terrible but one was UNDENIABLY far, far worse and we will face the same decision in the future so this ain’t a fucking team sport to me. I’ll pull the fucking trigger for satan himself if he’s going to maximize the good.