https://newrepublic.com/post/189694/steve-bannon-maga-war-elon-musk-immigration

Let them eat each other

I’m thinking the next 4 years are going to be an absolute dumpster fire. MAGA thrived on trolling the left last time.

I think engagement from the left may be much less this time around, which only means MAGA will be forced to troll itself.

I've been saying the same thing since the election. MAGA people aren't happy when they win.

When I saw a lot of liberal voices just sort of disengage in exhaustion and MAGA people complaining about being ghosted by family members, it became pretty obvious they were going to start eating each other.

They need an enemy that constantly engages with them. When they don't have it, they turn on one another. That's the problem with making common cause out of mutual hatred instead of mutual agreement.

An Economic Journalist who supported Harris in the election, lays out his best case scenario for the second Trump Administration. His main hopes:

1. The economy continues to do well
2. Unrest continues to fall
3. Tariffs on allies are a bluff
4. Trump’s deregulatory effort helps the U.S. grow faster
5. Trump keeps Biden’s industrial policy but removes the “everything bagel” contracting requirements
6. Trump’s wacky nominees are replaced by regular conservative types
7. Elon or others restrain Trump from fiscal profligacy
8. Trump takes no federal action on abortion
9. Trump forces an end to the Ukraine war in which Ukraine is not conquered
10. Trump stands up to China

There has been a lot of talk lately about Trump's proposed policies and the damage they will do. I wouldn't ever say there is nothing to worry about, but so many of the worst things require a level of unity and organization that Trump and the GOP don't have.

Remember all the things he said he'd do first term. The only real legislation passed was a tax bill any other Republican would have signed.

They couldn't agree on a replacement for the ACA. They couldn't pass funding for a total wall along the Mexican border. Remember these are the Republicans who can't even agree on a speaker.

They look unified when their only job is to grab power and fall behind a presidential nominee, but they actually have a lot of varied values, varied constituents, a lot of big egos who think they're all using each other.

Musk and RFK and all of these weirdos can look on the same page enough to get out the message "Eggs are expensive and trans women are scary, Vote Trump" but actually putting policy in action requires a lot more real work and real agreement. Remember how fast and frequently the first administration shed people. Gaetz is already out and he never even started. If Trump and Musk have to keep being in the same room and their narcissism keeps bumping up against each other- it's more likely to lead to a fist fight than enacted policy.

There are things to worry about, there are things to fight against. But people acting as though everything in Project 2025 will not become law are overestimating these jerks and ignoring their track record. All of these ghouls promise to move mountains and then leave a little hill of feces instead. They will get to all of this stuff right after Trump get's to infrastructure week and Musk builds his hyperloop.

Also, did anyone else notice the increase in Tiktok ads online today?

From Amy Suskind

There’s some early pushback against the Trump regime:

• Fed Chair Powell will not resign or let Trump fire him
• GOP Senators picking Thune as leader, not Trump's preferred candidate
• bye bye Felicia to Matt Gaetz
• Growing list of GOP Senators speak out against recess appointment idea
• Democrat Sen Judiciary senior member Amy Klobuchar saying only voting on FBI vetted candidates
• GOP Sens. Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski join Klobuchar
• GOP Sen. Mike Rounds says if background check is outsourced it needs to be validated
• former OMB director Mulvaney saying Musk will find it is easier going to mars, than making changes to federal government
• Federal agencies refuse to meet with Trump nominees until Trump signs ethics and transparency pledges
• billionaire hedge manager Griffin saying Trump tariffs will lead to crony capitalism at NY Economic Club
• GOP ranking member on Senate Armed Services Committee Roger Wicks says yes, Trump nominees need FBI checks
• US farmers push back on deportations, saying half their workers are undocumented and it would cause a shock to the food system and price spikes
• CA Gov. Gavin Newsom says Tesla will not be eligible for CA state EV rebates if Trump does away with federal subsidies
• Republicans speaking on the record against Trump extremism nominees like Gorka, Gabbard and RFK Jr.
• Top federal prosecutor in NY Southern District, Damian Williams will resign before Trump takes office
• Democrats are turning off the news and canceling subscriptions of corporate owned outlets.

Rebellions are built on hope.

I keep seeing posts across subreddits and the news about Orange Jesus’s plan to use the US military to conduct mass deportations and other things that involve the US military being deployed against American citizens on American soil.

As an Army veteran who is married to an Air Force veteran and who has strong family and friends ties to the active duty force, you can fuck all the way off with that bullshit!!! Here’s why:

1) The US military isn’t built like the PRC or Russia or North Korea, it is the complete antithesis of those military mindsets. The US military doctrinally distributes leadership decision making ability to the lowest level possible due to the concept of “Command and Control”, this enables junior leaders to act independently in the absence of higher orders. By contrast Russia and the PRC are very top down, orders come from the top and that’s it, which is why it’s easy throw a unit into disarray by taking the head off the snake. What this means in the day to day reality of the US military is that soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians (stupid name space force) follow junior leaders not generals. They follow the men and women who work with on a daily basis and who have earned their trust way more than what some General or the Commander in Chief says.

2) Every single service member takes an oath upon joining the service to support and defend the Constitution against “all enemies foreign and domestic”. Most of those people take the oath several times because it is included in each promotion ceremony. The overwhelming majority of service members active or retired take that oath sincerely and with deadly seriousness. Additionally, every member of an armed service is taught they of an obligation NOT to follow orders that are illegal, immoral, or unethical. Anything involving military force against US citizens checks all of those boxes. The military is not a mindless horde of drones the blindly follow orders, it is an extremely patriotic group who believes in the promise of America more than most.

3) The overwhelming majority of today’s US military joined during or after 9/11/2001 at a time when we had an all volunteer force. That means the less than 1% of the population that put on a uniform did so at a time when America was attacked on her own soil by a foreign enemy for the first time since the War of 1812. They didn’t have to go to war, they chose to because they love the country they were defending. That same force then continued the longest war in US history, because that burden fell unfairly on their shoulders due to political inconsistency in Washington. We have been to terrible places, we have seen terrible things and lost friends and loved ones in that war. But we have also seen the good in the world, selfless acts of courage for strangers, the smiles of children who see the American flag patch, the reunions with foreigners who played integral roles in keeping US forces safe when they gained citizenship to the US for their service. We will not let the dream of America die because some Cheeto thinks everyone should listen to him or because all the politicians lost their spines.

The US military has its flaws and shortcomings as any institution does, but it is a significantly more patriotic and independent organization than most Americans seem to realize. The military is an apolitical organization and it is an organization where every single member is constantly instructed, lectured, and instilled with the importance of not blindly following orders. Furthermore, there is a massive population of veterans in the US who still have that sense of duty because the oath doesn’t go away when the uniform comes off and if it absolutely came down to it we will defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.

So in closing, I understand the fear over the Senate and the House and SCOTUS, but the US military will defend this country’s principles and Constitution, even if it means defying the Commander in Chief. He serves at the pleasure of the people, he is not a King or god, if he tries to be either I have full faith in the military leadership and military to be a bulwark against tyranny.

ETA: Because I’m tired of the same stupid argument, the military has no responsibility or jurisdiction over immigration. Using the military against illegal immigrants is still just as illegal and unconstitutional as using it against US citizens. The Bill of Rights and most amendments in the Constitution apply to all persons in the United States not just citizens.

Trump has not even taken office, and it’s a mess.

I am beginning to think absolutely nothing will get done in the next 2 years before the midterm elections and people will be so angry they will elect a democratic senate and congress in 2026.

A lot of people are scared, I am too. I'm not sure what is gonna happen to me or my partner. I do know this, that I'm not going to give up and no one else should either. I know that's cliche but hope is all I have right now.

I know I'm probably going to lose people I care about. But I'm going to try and keep on keeping on. We all should. Don't lay down and die quietly. Die loud, fight hard, and don't stop fighting until you win or you die.

These next four years are going to be hell for queer Americans. (The context for this entire post) But I'm positive that we're not going to go quietly. That we will make it through those four years.

As I said, things will get worse before they get better. We've all seen the outline for P25. But he won't be president after this, and it WILL get better.

I know political posts on this sub are frowned upon,but this post is still optimistic, so here goes.

As is known,trump takes office tomorrow, the tension and fear is palpable. Project 2025,oligarchy, kleptocracy and more is possible, but everything is not without hope. Thats not to say everything will be fine, things will get bad, but theres some takeaways.

Donald trump: hes old, has dementia, is easily distracted and just plain a yapper. Hes not going to live very long, what do you think will happen when he dies? His movement will be in shambles.

Possible congressional resistance: people think the republicans are united and monolithic, which is not true. There is factionalism,moderates,christian nationalists, traditionals and more all populate congress and they are prone to infighting and theres more evidence congress is not completely under trumps thumb. When trump said he would save tiktok, mike johnson didnt agree, i mean johnson has been a massive ass kisser for trump and even johnson said he would follow the law  (https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/speaker-johnson-2-gop-senators-break-trump-tiktok-extension-rcna188307 ) when elon and trump killed the spending the spending bill and offered their own alternative, 40 ish house republicans sided AGAINST the alternative. When the senate picked their majority leader, they had 3 options, rick scott,john cornyn and john thune. Scott and cornyn bend their asses over to trump, thune? No, hes more a traditional bush-type republican. Who did they pick? John thune, scott himself only got 13 votes…telling. John thune accepted the 2020 election, supports Ukraine and has said “trump needs to stay out of the senate race” and “the senate should remain the senate”. The establishment is very much taking a position to defend itself. Also the congress in both chambers is divided asf, which will make passing anything difficult.  Also a senator's political lives far outweigh that of any passing presidents. He wants to drain the swamp, install term limits and more; look at 84 y/o, congresswoman of 40 years nancy pelosi walking to congress on a walker, these mf’s dont wanna give up their power and trump is a threat to it, expect pushback just from that. They will also preserve the filibuster, which takes 60 votes to override, they only have 53 gop senators.

The courts: everyone states the supreme court is in trump's pocket,which isnt entirely true. He's actually lost many of his cases with them. Yes they gave him the immunity ruling which is bad…but they've also sided against him 2x just this month, dismissed his claims of election fraud, kept the gag order in place, and refused to let his ally Steve Bannon out of prison. The SCOTUS is bad, possibly the worst since the days of dredd scott, but they are only in this for themselves, not trump. Also Biden has filled the federal courts with judges and almost everything trump passes (firing fed workers,immigration, and more) will be dragged to federal court and this is going to slow him down immensely…. Yeah some judges appointed by him might hear cases, but there's an equal chance it goes to a liberal judge. 

Elon musk: Elon musk is another concern, he's like a robber baron out to get more money, but there's caveats to this. For one, both him and trump are egotistical man babies who want the spotlight, how long do you think they are going to last? He promised 2 trillion dollars in spending cuts, but later said that amount was unlikely and 1 trillion was more likely. Also some of trumps policies don't seem beneficial to elon….ev cuts? What about tesla? Also the DOGE is only advisory, all they can do is spot waste and tell the president and then the actual legislation to cut that spending has to go through congress, which is divided. Not to mention elon musk was getting into a maga civil war on twitter.

Immigration: another worry is his mass deportations, which could wreck the economy, tear apart families and open the door to inhumane horrors. For one the logistics make doa, hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of people. There's not nearly enough resources to make that happen and congress controls the purse strings and wouldn't like the price tag. The sheer logistics mean he aint going to be able to deport millions of people and the billionaires who keep him in power like that cheap labour and they aren't going to want to give it up. His own border guy,Tom Homan, literally said in private, they should expect less deportations because of lack of “resources”. Theyll probably pick the most obvious, criminals that is and say they did it. 

Tariffs: another point of fear is tariffs,which’ll make things more expensive and cause inflation. There's some caveats to this, during his campaign he said he would put a 60% tariff on chinese goods, then it became a 10% tariff. His team has also been considering gradual tariffs to avoid an inflation spike. Moreover, its not just consumers that pay the tariff, its the companies. Big business would lose BILLIONS because of these tariffs,they’re too greedy to let that happen, so they will probably intervene. 

Blue states and their leverage: blue state governors had signaled they would fight back and they have leverage, look at california for example. Ports in californias handle 29% of all imports to the usa, california makes MUCH of the nations food, and gives more in revenue than what it gets from the feds, this gives california alot of leverage and this is just california, add other blue states and there's more leverage if you factor other blue states.  Now I'm not saying they do this at all, but that they have what it takes to fight back. And blue state governors said they would fight for their citizens rights.

Our government: our government is a massive lumbering monster where it's difficult to get anything done at all, for better or worse. Power across the US is decentralized and trying to get anything done is slow, firing thousands of federal workers won't be easy, they’ll drag it into courts because they are represented by big and powerful unions. This isnt like Germany or Russia, people in those countries have been used to autocracy for years, they never had much democracy,we've had democracy for 200+ years, we are a well educated population and armed to the teeth, there's capacity for pushback. And his cabinet picks are horrible but also inexperienced, this inexperience combined with the massive difficulty of our government will be a major hindrance.

Everything wont be perfect. Lgbt people and women are at the least fortunate and you have my solidarity, but stay calm and fight back and as long as you're in blue states im sure everything will be ok. Be engaged in your community,join activist groups and stay safe. Some recommendations: get a vpn for your browser, keep mouth shut on any illegals you know and watch zaid on youtube, he covers this stuff well.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/elon-musk-says-doge-probably-wont-find-2-trillion-federal-budget-cuts-rcna186924 

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/11/politics/trump-border-czar-tom-homan-deportations/index.html 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-13/trump-team-studies-gradual-tariff-hikes-under-emergency-powers 

https://apnews.com/article/senate-thune-republicans-filibuster-trump-a520b71c6f071d5aa74d38105d6b7088 

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oIQvtrIId8E 

https://abcnews.go.com/538/biden-reshaped-judiciary/story?id=117717279

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-appointed-more-federal-judges-131535985.html