In the case of Trump? No. The dude is unpredictable.

If I am a betting person, and if Trump doesn’t arrest him sooner, I would bet that Newsom will run for president near 2028, and that is when Trump will have him arrested.

Who the f cares. These hit pieces does nothing to actually mobilise the already tamed population. As long sycophants and oligarchs see Trump as being useful for as long as possible, he will be tolerated. In a dictatorship-- either in a quasi or full fledged one–the most important resource is access to the dictator. As long as Trump is useful enough for the elites, he will stay in power, even if Trump knows everyone hates his gut.

A lot of PAID cowards in powerful positions.

He is performing plausible deniability. Without saying directly yes or no, he is still open to the idea of not upholding the constitution. It is like saying “I can neither confirm nor deny.”

The person you replied to quoted World Socialist Website, which is run by a bunch of boomer edgelords who mentally never grew up and still thinks we’re still in the 1960s. The only socialist publisher worth reading is Jacobin, even though I may not agree everything with them.

That’s true. His impeachment proceedings got distracted with the assassination of Khassem Soleimani in January 2020, and then COVID happened.

A common running thread among fascists is being fantasist. Trump’s tariff threat to force companies to re-shore is one of those fantasies. His plan makes sense if we are still living in 19th century when gunboat diplomacy, economic warfare, colonialism, or the general mindset of “might makes right” still works. But such reality has long gone and the world now has to be mulitateral. What Trump is doing is regression.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Christ… letter this, letter that. Warning this, warning that. Trump did this, Trump did that.

Just rise up already! You are all in already in the very same despotism that the American founding fathers warned you all of!

It is a socialist website, they still love to be edgy no matter how old they are.

My brother set it up for my parents even though they don’t game. I just think he installed it because it as intuitive as Windows for lay people.

My parents love Bazzite.

Is Pop as good and generally user friendly for those less familiar with Linux? Never heard of Pop before!

The consequences of inflation had been decades in the making. Thirty years of neoliberal policies and fifty plus years of stagnation on real wages is now paying its dues, because real wages has not kept up with ever rising inflation. The working class is certainly the most affected and even experienced lower growth in real wage. While not the sole problem, it contributes to radicalising a population. The US and other parts of the word had it coming because of said policies. Prices of less valuable consumer goods have gone down, but the basic essentials and health care keeps going up and up. That being said, the overall inflation has decreased since the pandemic but basic essentials has not. Those with higher income may not feel the pinch, but the working class and many in the lower middle class certainly does. These people are brainwashed and hoodwinked to blame the wrong people like immigrants, minorities and lgbt, while the monied class gets away with it.

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”- Lyndon B. Johnson

It’s not Trump apologism-- it’s reality check. The left and liberals should get out of their bubble, because they are doing the inverse of being hoodwinked by convincing them to look down on the working class as well. Who are the ones constantly blocking affordable housing in the liberal-bastion that is California? That’s right, it’s the liberals themselves, who are also rich like many conservatives are. You could easily Google the information on that one if you don’t believe me. Are you also aware that California put anti-homeless spikes and other deterents on areas where the vagabonds sleep? I’m sure many of those homeless folks came from poorer states to look for a job in California; but the lack of affordable housing and being unable to find a job with decent pay to afford rent renders them vulnerable. They did what many told them to do: move out of their shithole places and go to where there is opportunity, right?

The podcast I refered to is in my native language which is hosted by a highly-esteemed professor and political analyst who has been invited by international news outlets for interviews including The Guardian, BBC, ABC, and Al Jazeera. He is a social democrat but a critic of those from the affluent section of the left and liberals who keep putting down the working-class. Slavoj Zizek also made the same broad observation about the left and liberals-- that there is a certain naïveté among the group.

This isn’t being apologetic for Trump-- it is a wakeup call for the left, whose former base is the working-class but is now subsumed by the far-right (liberals in the classical sense have hardly been reliable as class-ally), to be aware of the blindspot and close that narrow gap of a spot. Yes, one can keep calling the working-class racist or bigoted, but they are the ones who have once voted for the left but now keep voting far-right. It is worth pointing out you seem to refuse to acknowledge that. Look around you. Look outside your home, outside your town, outside of your state, and outside of your country, the working class used to vote for the left but what happened? Look around and ask yourself that question and you will find your answer. There is no longer a version of penny auction in this generation. As in, there is no longer a class-solidarity that existed during the Depression era. The affluent today show concerns for the homeless and less fortunate, but when it is time for call to action, there is little appetite to approve alleviating the cost of living and housing crisis, and consign the working class as dumb and bigots, instead of realising these have been brainwashed to scapegoat the innocent.

Going to the Harris promise, I admire the promise to build 3 million homes but the $25,000 downpayment to buy a house as government assistance isn’t exactly appealing considering how much the average American house prices are these days. Trump promised no taxes on tips and then Harris simply copied it. Why not increase the federal wage instead? Oh that’s right, the Democratic party is in actuality a spineless center-right party who don’t want to rub their rich donors the wrong way. Unfortunately, Trump promised to re-energise the dying fossil fuel industry, which appeals to the working-class. But what have the Democrats promised as alternative in the former blue wall to dis-incentivise working in the fossil fuel industry? What have the Democrats promised to replace the old manufacturing jobs with? Can you really blame the working class for siding the Republicans with promise of re-shoring more jobs and putting tariffs on imports?

There needs to be another Roosevelt who has the spine to stand up and not be afraid of monied interests, despite coming from old money itself. Again, there is no class solidarity nowadays. The liberals and left indeed abandoned the working-class.

Would you say the same to the black and Hispanic voters who elected Trump as being stupid? Look at Europe and they have also have the same far-right problem. De-industrialised Northern France, Eastern Sweden and East Germany are voting the far-right. You can’t just tell people to reskill when there are no alternatives offered. You can’t also expect them to move. There are still people living in Detroit, right? The problem with Western governments and its citizens is they are bad with offering alternatives and essentially abandoned the working-class. Just look at Liverpool-- they were the second busiest port city in Britain but experienced economic and population decline in the latter half of 20th century. Despite all that, the government of Liverpool has been effective in investing in their communities, attracting businesses, and revitalising their economy and city. And they have always been proud multicultural, has strong working-class background who always voted for Labour, and voted to Remain in the EU unlike its similarly neighbouring de-industralised Northern English counties.

Sure, there are racists who voted Remain, Trump, Sweden Democrats and Le Pen, but liberals need to realise that you can call others racists or misogynists if they haven’t offered alternatives. I found it laughable that anti-Trumper social and news bubble keep making character assassinations, but rarely I see posts highlighting how Democrats would do better economically than Trump (and frankly, Harris’ economic platform isn’t very appealing compared to Trump which is why I understand why people voted for him). Otherwise, those who are left to fend for themselves are feeling vulnerable and lost in a dark place are desperate to hug a dark embrace from the allure of easy promises. I’m amazed you dismissed FDR’s quote about economically insecure folks being the ingredients of a dictatorship. It is true then and true now. It just so happens that I am listening to a podcast and the main criticism on both liberal and left alike is the grown hubris of appearing know-it-all and taking down the working-class, either intentionally or not. The sooner the left, liberals and progressives get out of their bubble, look at the problem at close distance, and search for others for inspiration (Liverpool’s revitalisation is a success for example), then the sooner they would win back the next election. There is a reason why many electorates sat down because they were not inspired. It’s not enough to tell other eligible voters of “tRoLlEy pRoBlEm” which Lemmy and the left drool over. Offer tangible solutions. Blame inflation as much as anyone wants, but the fact of the matter is that Democrats haven’t done enough to alleviate the effects which does not make much of the people “feel” the growing economy.

Bernie Sanders is correct that the Democrats abandoned the working class. I will be blunt and say that Lemmy has ironic bigotry and disdain on the people of colour and working class who voted for Trump. It is important to understand the other side even if you don’t agree; that way you would know where they are coming from and sway them. Call Trump voters of all backgrounds racists, hillbillies, mysoginists, redneck, traitors, Uncle Toms or Uncle Hector; but people don’t have jobs and crime rate is up. The former blue wall is now the orange Rust Belt that colours Trump. And it is taboo to say this but many places are indeed overwhelmed by too much immigration since those places don’t have the infrastructure to support the sudden population increase. Chronically underfunded public services make locals and immigrants compete for school, jobs and hospital beds. Immigrants are blamed instead, when in fact it’s the affluent middle and upper classes who keep voting against building more social housing and expanding health services because they don’t want their property value to go down and/or pay more taxes. And frankly, I believe many Lemmy users fall into this class camp and don’t want to admit we’re part of the problem. Many of us are college-educated with higher economic mobility and earnings live in safe and affluent areas because we benefit from the new knowledge economy. We are not rubbing shoulders with working class folks who lost their traditional manufacturing jobs and not experiencing their every day struggle. So, we become detached from the real lived experiences of those left out and deprived of opportunities. We consign rural and de-industrialised Appalachian former workers as ignorant and racists, when in fact we’re also being bigoted against them for dismissing their genuine feelings of not having anymore jobs left, and their community left rotting by offshoring and automation caused by mismanaged globalisation. Why else has protectionism returned to the political menu? Has no one asked this instead of simply saying autarky and protectionism is dumb and makes their favourite video-games more expensive?

Simply saying that the economy is doing better is not enough if the rest are not feeling it. Just because we’re feeling cushy in our office job doesn’t mean those in the Rust Belt are feeling the same. We would not say we’re fine if we have cancer on the liver while the rest of the body don’t.

There is no denying that there are outright bigotry, but many people are left behind by emerging new technology and job market trend. And the folks who are out of jobs who could not put food on the table is the stuff that dictators are made of. I did not say this, it was Franklin Roosevelt. He knows that desperate people are easily brainwashed and swayed. Tell me you have not been in a dark place on a personal level before and you have not had negative thoughts dominate? It’s the same situation happening right now with the working class which manifest on the societal level.

If the mostly affluent Lemmy users, progressives and liberals realise this, then we can take back progressivism into the political spotlight. The same progressives who always call for empathy do not place the same to the blue collar, working class folks left behind economically. Progressives need to understand the people different from them. It is only right to learn even from the other side.

During the Great Depression, neighbours would buy their neighbouring farmers’ property at a penny to prevent being possessed by uncallous bankers, and threaten auctioneers for not agreeing with the sale. Where is that solidarity right now?

I doubt Putin will press the red button. Even Xi Jinping gets irritated whenever Putin threatens with nuclear weapons and tells him to stop with the obvious bluff.

Using nukes even against Ukraine will literally piss everyone off. It will make Russia even more pariah.

Plenty of coping from the liberal corporate media, instead of admitting that liberals abandoned the working class to court the monied interests.

Apartheid ended in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela, which is 4-5 years after the fall of communism.

I wonder though, maybe South Africa was easily made a pariah state in the 90s because it was the end of the Cold War. SA’s utility in geopolitics to contain communism had run its course. Meanwhile, Israel is situated in still tense Middle East, and the main reason US still support Israel is because the latter provides excellent intelligence gathering which they provide then to the US and the West.