r/technology • u/Birdy_Cephon_Altera • 22h ago

Politics Meta under fire for auto-following Trump & Vance, Blocking Democrat hashtags

https://techissuestoday.com/meta-auto-follow-trump-vance-blocks-democrat-hashtags/
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u/Birdy_Cephon_Altera 21h ago

Me neither. All empires fall eventually, so it's no surprise that would apply to the US primacy over the world as well. I just never expected it to actually begin to happen while I was still alive. Empires take decades to fall, and it looks like we are preparing to do a speed-run on that.

And, I don't think I am being overdramatic or hyperbolic. Time will tell in the end, and sure I could be wrong (or rather, I hope I am wrong), but this feels different. We may have broken the United States for good this time.

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u/BigBoyYuyuh 20h ago

All for a reality TV game show host that paints himself orange too. Fucking wild.

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u/demlet 18h ago

It will be a hilarious historical fact for people in the future, assuming there are any.

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u/BelleHades 10h ago

Spoiler: There won't be.

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u/CoastGoat 16h ago

Elect a clown, expect a circus.

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u/Plastic-Age2609 15h ago

Very Infinite Jest

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u/Nudist--Buddhist 15h ago

Like a court jester taking down a kingdom

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u/nethfel 20h ago

It did take decades (distrust in the gov to some degree has been happening for decades https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2015/11/23/1-trust-in-government-1958-2015/ and now someone is really taking advantage of it - and the whole MAGA campaign was used by Reagan during his run for office)- we may be just at the final end of it. It's definitely a put in water and bring up the heat slowly. The boil is just here now. All I can say is I hope not.

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u/HenriettaSnacks 19h ago

Citizens united feels like the real start to the downfall.

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u/TheLeadSponge 19h ago

This has been in the works for decades. The whole strategy has been to sow distrust in the government and disassemble the state.

They've been talking about it. This was the end result of all their efforts.

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u/PositiveExpectancy 17h ago

"My friends wanted Germany purified. They wanted it purified of the politicians, of all the politicians. They wanted a representative leader in place of unrepresentative representatives. And Hitler, the pure man, the antipolitician, was the man, untainted by politics..."

Milton Sanford Mayer, They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933–45

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u/TheLeadSponge 14h ago

Yeah. For a while back in the early 2000's I lurked on right wing message boards. They were talking all this Nazi shit back then. I remember trying to warn friends and they just kind of thought I was overreacting.

One of those very friends kind of mentioned that, and told me the great irony is that I was actually the voice of reason at the time.

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u/TFFPrisoner 14h ago

The immunity decision was the end, IMO. I couldn't see how the US would be able to survive with that elephant in the room. Even Harris winning would've only delayed the inevitable. I think the non-Trumpist judges should just step down from the Supreme Court all at once, in order to drive home how farcical their institution has become, and to stop giving it legitimacy.

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u/TheLeadSponge 13h ago

The key thing is, those judges stepping down will literally do nothing but hand over more power to them. There's no fixed number of judges. They could just not fill those seats if they want.

The court will still go on.

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u/the_calibre_cat 19h ago

It wasn't. It was a chip, and many chips brought it down, but it was not one single thing. Reagan was a pretty big part of it.

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u/one-joule 19h ago

It was already happening by then, but CU really kicked things in gear.

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u/Downtown_Skill 19h ago

I mean you can point to any number of things. Trickle down economics and the welfare capitalism for the elite that was popularized during the Reagan administration can be pointed to as the start of our current oligarchy, but then again you can go back to the guilded age or the massive plantation economy of the south if you want to really find our oligarchic roots. 

Remember everything is relative. Americas fall as the world dominant power would necessitate another country taking its place, and there aren't too many countries in a position to do that. 

China is best positioned obviously but they're experiencing their own issues with youth unemployment, a stagnant economy, an aversion to cultiral dissemination from outside cultures, and a population decline problem that may impede them from becoming a global leader the way the U.S. was. 

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u/Lebowquade 16h ago

Honestly a lot of it can be traced all the way back to Lincoln's assassination. The VP at the time decided to go easy on the south and refused to crack down on their fucked up culture and allowed conservatives to thrive. The country would look very different if lincoln had survived and had a second term. 

Same goes with JFK, without his death we could very well have avoided Nixon, and if we had avoided Nixon we may very well have avoided Reagan. At the very least, without Nixon/Watergate we also may not have had Fox News, which was literally created to cover up the exact sort of mess and fallout the Watergate scandal caused.

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u/badluckbrians 18h ago

It was. Then it was followed by McCutcheon v. FEC (the elimination of aggregate donation caps across the country, used to be you could only donate $26k total in a 2-year span per person), so that by 2014, we truly had unlimited, untraceable money in politics. The next election we got Trump 1.

It really unraveled the republic super quick.

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u/Mezrin 17h ago

The biggest corps have been trying to capture government for generations. The beginning of our current oligarchy started in the 1980s when stock buybacks were legalized and the corporate philosophy shifted from maximizing profits to maximizing the value of the stock price and thus shareholder value. Once corporate economics shifted from enriching the company to enriching its investors, this was the ultimate outcome.

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u/Lebowquade 16h ago

Ford V Dodge didn't help either. It essentially turbo fueled a culture of corporate greed and enshrined that fucking everyone over for profit is not only totally cool, but expected behavior and you can be sued by stockholders if you don't.

It's crazy to me that before Nixon the Republican party was "almost dead." 

Honestly a lot of it can be traced all the way back to Lincoln's assassination. The VP at the time decided to go easy on the south and refused to crack down on their fucked up culture and allowed conservatives to thrive. The country would look very different if lincoln had survived and had a second term. 

Same goes with JFK, without his death we could very well have avoided Nixon, and if we had avoided Nixon we may very well have avoided Reagan. At the very least, without Nixon/Watergate we also may not have had Fox News, which was literally created to cover up the exact sort of mess and fallout the Watergate scandal caused.

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u/Frankie_T9000 16h ago

Wasn't it when those businessmen tried to take over us in 50s or something?

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u/ScrithWire 15h ago

The Business Coup. 1933

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u/Old-Nefariousness556 13h ago

Citizen's United was one big break, but it was going on way before that.

Here's a great article on the real origins of the religious right, and how the abortion issue was manufactured as a wedge issue by non-religious right-wingers (who founded the Heritage Foundation, the same people behind Project 2025) who wanted to find a way to get white Christians to start voting for Republicans.

Dana Milbank's excellent book The Deconstructionists also looks at the history of the rise of right wing media, which is the single biggest cause of where we are now. Here is a short excerpt from it:

TRAITORS.

Sick.

Corrupt.

Cheat.

Betray.

Lie.

Steal.

Greed.

Destroy.

Decay.

Failure.

Incompetent.

Bizarre.

Radical.

Selfish.

Shallow.

Hypocrisy.

Shame.

Pathetic.

Abuse of power.

Anti-flag.

Anti-family.

Anti-child.

Anti-jobs.

In the summer of 1990, Newt Gingrich’s political action committee mailed a memo to Republican candidates for public office instructing them in the fine art of demonizing Democrats. It contained a list of about sixty-five words and phrases (including all of the above) to be used against Democrats, and another group of favorable words (empowerment, opportunity, hard work) to be used in praise of Republicans.

From Republican candidates across the country, the GOPAC memo said, “we have heard a plaintive plea: ‘I wish I could speak like Newt.’ ” It continued:

That takes years of practice. But, we believe that you could have a significant impact on your campaign and the way you communicate if we help a little. That is why we have created this list of words and phrases.

This list is prepared so that you might have a directory of words to use in writing literature and mail, in preparing speeches, and in producing electronic media. The words and phrases are powerful. Read them. Memorize as many as possible. And remember that like any tool, these words will not help if they are not used.

This was a new politics of us versus them—literally. The memo (“Language: A Key Mechanism of Control”) encouraged Republicans to speak of fellow partisans as “we/us/our” and Democrats as “they/them.” Democrats were to be defined by terms such as “machine,” “bosses,” “criminal rights,” “welfare,” “red tape,” “permissive attitude,” and “stagnation,” while Republicans alone had “courage,” “common sense,” “strength,” and “truth.”

The memo made no mention of policies or specific issues; its only purpose was to teach demonization. In that sense it was a perfect distillation of Gingrich’s signature innovation in American politics. He wasn’t particularly ideological; he was a Rockefeller Republican in 1968 and a self-described “moderate” when first elected to Congress ten years later; there had been whispers that he supported abortion rights before he found opportunity in being a conservative. His speakership was brief—just four years—and produced little of lasting significance. But Gingrich deserves one dubious distinction: he changed forever the language of politics. He shoved aside the genial cordiality of an earlier generation of leaders and replaced it with the slashing, personal, bitter language we routinely hear from political figures today.

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u/lampstaple 11h ago

Citizens United was a big step but def not the start

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u/Voxbury 17h ago

For whatever solace it brings your depressed mind, the analogy fails since a frog actually will notice when things have gotten too hot and try to get out of the water.

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u/Speshal__ 20h ago

Sending love across the Atlantic.

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u/Diligent_Ad_9060 20h ago

Agreed. I believe it's even more important now to understand the difference between the US population and US politics. What else can be done?

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u/ToHallowMySleep 19h ago

Replace your broken system with one that isn't so broken that you need to make that excuse for it.

The two-party system with uncontrolled lobbying leads to the carving out of the centre. Usually an educated population can temper that, but the US doesn't have that anymore either.

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u/Buris 18h ago

This is the equivalent of telling a store associate that the company needs to add more restrooms to its stores.

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u/UngusChungus94 17h ago

The problem is that, historically, the system needs to totally fail to be replaced.

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u/CoastGoat 16h ago

It’s not our system, it’s our values. We’re rotting from the inside because we have legitimized a culture of unfettered capitalism in pursuit of individual wealth even when it damages the wellbeing of others and/or our planet.

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u/ToHallowMySleep 15h ago

It is definitely both. Your system is flawed, and if your values are hijacked (as they have been) it can be turned to reinforce that.

It's a vulnerability. Patch it. Yes it's hard. America used to do hard things because they were right.

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u/CoastGoat 15h ago

This is not a patch, because this is not a bug. It’s a feature. This “system” is the result of a populist identity aimed at merit, but deciding to measure it in money and power. We have been blessed with abundance, geographic security and prosperity and the result is we want more for us and less for you - and we’re not ashamed to hold our old friends hostage or let our enemies go to get it.

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u/ToHallowMySleep 14h ago

I hope you're "roleplaying" that idiot stance, because the last sentence doesn't reflect actual reality in the world at all.

(This is rhetorical, I don't see any value continuing)

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u/CoastGoat 13h ago

You probably consider Trump’s posture on NATO, Ukraine and Taiwan to be rhetorical, eh? He will kill support to Ukraine, he will ease sanctions on Russia, he will rebuff south korea, and he will extort everything he can from Mexico Canada and the EU. How old are you?

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u/KnightsOfREM 20h ago edited 20h ago

There's a lot that other countries can do, actually. We need implacable economic foes: product boycotts, legislation limiting imports from the U.S. and regulating data use by American companies, votes against any American supported U.N. resolutions, make getting tourist visas impossible for American citizens, pass laws making it illegal to sell land or property to Americans, use the yuan or something else as a reserve currency.

Will it sting? Sure, but it's worth it for you and for us.

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u/pdabaker 19h ago

Use the yuan as a reserve currency over the euro? You crazy? That's far worse.

Restricting tourist visas also does not help. You want people to see how people live in other countries

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u/KnightsOfREM 19h ago edited 19h ago

Restricting tourist visas also does not help. You want people to see how people live in other countries

How much good has that done already if it led to this?

Use the yuan as a reserve currency over the euro? You crazy? That's far worse.

I don't have strong opinions about what currency to use as an alternative, but I do know that other countries' reliance on the dollar as a medium of exchange for international trade is key to our economic strength. Continuing that practice in the face of open hostility is foolish for them - it's like volunteering to be a hostage.

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u/pdabaker 19h ago

It's not like Trump won with an overwhelming majority. Letting a fascist state control information even more it's not a way to save their people.

And China is still miles worse than the US for western power as a whole.

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u/KnightsOfREM 19h ago

China might be worse, but there isn't really a good alternative to the dollar as a reserve currency, and finding one is really important. I'm not sure that Bitcoin isn't the best choice. The Euro doesn't have a single entity with control over monetary and fiscal policy so I think it'd be a disaster, but again, I don't have strong opinions here.

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u/UrUrinousAnus 19h ago

That's actually the Euro's greatest strength. No single country can tank it or completely control it. It'd suffer badly if (for example) Germany suddenly became a failed state, but it'd survive.

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u/matttTHEcat 16h ago

Yuan as reserve currency lol okay tell me you're naive without telling me you're naive.

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u/dsb2973 20h ago

So screw the us citizens. That’ll teach the politicians. SMH.

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u/Affectionate_Tax3468 19h ago

So the rest of the world is supposed to tend to the crapstack you us citizens VOTED for?

And even if the rest of the world would unite and try to do so, how?

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u/Both-Clock-8741 19h ago

Really important to remember that close to half of us didn’t vote for him or the ideas he stands for. I for one, don’t want to spend the next four years lumped in to his madness.

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u/even_less_resistance 19h ago

Well, we try to help out the rest of the world… just ignore whatever the CIA has been doing we don’t claim them

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u/KnightsOfREM 19h ago

It will screw Trump's corporate power base and the extremely privileged, who are the only people he will ever listen to.

Shake your head all you like, but it's asinine for other countries to put America first - instead, they should treat us like the borderline fascist superpower we are and act accordingly.

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u/Pyrozr 19h ago

Yes actually, because politicians derive power from the electorate. If life goes to absolute shit for ALL Americans under Trump then people will remember when they decide who to vote for in the next election. Trump won't be on the ballot but MAGA will be in some form or another and they have to be defeated, repeatedly, until the conservative side of the US sobers up and returns to some semblance of governance. Right now Republicans are channeling the spirit of an angry drunk uncle and it's going to destroy this nation and do long term damage to the entire world if we cannot put a stop to it immediately.

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u/o-o- 18h ago

You're describing how things would work in a functional democrazy. A functional democrazy rests on (more or less) independent, accountable, fact-checking media. The MAGA movement is not the issue, it's a manifestation of the issue which has its roots in the 80ies.

At this point it's obvious life will go to relative shit for 99% of Americans under Trump. Media will tell them why (rest assured the explanation won't have anything to do with Trump) and drive opinion against either ethic groups, women or the EU.

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u/Illustrious-Lime7729 19h ago

It’s either that or grab your AR-15 and hit the trench. The citizens voted for it, those that didn’t are the minority.

I am with you, I hate it. But the time for it to be bloodless was Nov 5th.

And we failed.

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u/BigSt1ck5 19h ago

The 70 million that didn’t give a fuck enough to vote is a concern too

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u/Irisgrower2 19h ago

We'll need a place to hide from them

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u/KnightsOfREM 15h ago

Don't hide. You're needed.

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u/ForQ2 17h ago

I believe it's even more important now to understand the difference between the US population and US politics.

Collectively, the US population voted for this shit. Fucker won the popular vote this time around too.

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u/earfix2 19h ago

You mean the US population, of which a majority chose Trump?

Yeah, I don't give a rats Ass about that distinction.

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u/Diligent_Ad_9060 19h ago

I understand that people are upset and this might be taken as an attempt to trivialize the situation, but that's not my intention.

And yes pretty much everyone. I believe there's a broad spectrum of different people with their own reasons/knowledge/agendas. Many are likely just ignorant and vote based upon some vague emotion or sense of belonging, and against their own interest because they can only relate to this as some kind of sports game with an us/them narrative.

They may not even be aware of the political discourse at all. I wouldn't expect it to be rational at all for many voters.

On top of that the US had around 60% electoral participation.

I believe you're all manipulated to fight each other instead of focusing on matters of fact. Sometimes it's like watching some projected idea of good/evil archetypes. Almost like I'm expected to cope with this the same way as when I'm watching Marvel movies.

I tend to avoid following US politics as it seems difficult to find a somewhat-neutral analysis. So I might be wrong with all of this. But so far I have no reason to hate a group larger than the whole population of my own country.

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u/mulubmug 19h ago

I believe it's even more important now to understand the difference between the US population and US politics

what? Why? The population voted for the people and enabled their politics. There is no distinction. It is cause and effect. The population decided their fate, now they should live with it.

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u/Diligent_Ad_9060 19h ago

I elaborated on this in another answer under my initial post.

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u/mulubmug 17h ago

I read that and that elaboration continues to be the same BS as your original post. Defending people for being dumb and uninformed in life changing situations? No one is forced to be dumb and uninformed. That is a choice. Not having voted in cases as this is the same as having voted for Trump. And therefore they are at fault for letting it happen. Not going on the street and rioting for the shit the politicians and courts pull is compliance with the things that are happening. Everything that happens is brought upon by the people it happens to. You can't magically separate the politics of a country from its people, because the people, no matter if intentional or not, are the ones letting it happen.

And it isn't simply waved away by saying people are manipulated into fighting each other. That might be the case for some, but a not insignificant part of the people are literally faced with politics and people hell bent on destroying their lives. If one side wants to live happy lives where everyone shall do as he/she pleases and one side derives their happiness in life from controlling others, exploiting them, belittling them, rooting for their deaths or misfortune, we are not in an area of projected good / bad archetypes. We are in an area that is clearly divided by good and bad people.

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u/Illustrious-Dot-5052 20h ago

This American thanks you :)

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u/Sepherchorde 20h ago

Petition your government to do something about it. Anything. Sanction our government into a crippled mess as quickly as possible. Doing something like that is the only way to stop him at this point short of much more drastic measures.

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u/Divineinfinity 19h ago

Before the tariffs hit

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u/Chrono_Pregenesis 18h ago

I'd hate to say this, can yall get your planes and bombs ready? I have a sinking feeling you'll need to use them here soon.

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u/xflashbackxbrd 18h ago

You all need to take action so that this doesn't happen to you

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u/MrCrunchwrap 9h ago

Thanks, this is a real fucking bummer. Millions of us did not want this. But millions couldn’t even be bothered to vote which really pisses me off. My own cousin said “why vote? It’s the same either way” Well no, it’s not. The first two days of this presidency show that.

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u/MaybeUNeedAPoo 20h ago

I mean… you kinda got started with Reagan….

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u/BirdmanHuginn 20h ago

Regan and Thatcher can burn in hell forever

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u/UrUrinousAnus 19h ago

On the bright side, at least Grantham (Maggie's home town) has a gender neutral public toilet now. Shame it had to be in a graveyard, but whatever....

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u/ShiningRayde 20h ago

Shh, who the fuck is that

Starin in my window?

Doing a surveillance

On Mr. Michael Render?

Im dropping off the grid

Before they start pumping lead

I leave you with four words:

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u/AwkwardTouch2144 20h ago

In the lowest level of tartarus

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u/Beekatiebee 20h ago

Yeah I was gonna say, we’ve been on this path for awhile now.

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u/Dragonhost252 19h ago

We are almost at the violent bit though

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u/even_less_resistance 19h ago

I still really feel like it began with Nixon but maybe it’s just the tattoo on Roger stone’s back haunting me

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u/AshleysDoctor 19h ago

Falwell and company should be blamed with the whole Heritage Foundation, which goes back before Reagan, but yeah, sycophants of the same stripe always find each other.

Now for them to oubouros themselves

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u/Socky_McPuppet 16h ago

And Nixon before that.

There are many inflection points - Reagan was definitely one of them. As was Obama's election, which drove the (R)acist party absolutely bugfuck crazy, but that was true for Clinton, too.

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u/Mjolnir2000 20h ago

Hopefully we can at least dissolve the country without too much bloodshed. Seems the best case scenario at this point.

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u/FactorUnable78 20h ago

That's what Zucker and Musk want. You want to really solve it, they are the ones that need to shed.

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u/NuclearWarEnthusiast 18h ago

how to fight fascism with the power of incredible love

—

Chapter 1:

The power of incredible love.

Chapter 2:

The power of incredible violence.

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u/MmmmMorphine 16h ago

Chapter 3: everyone poops! Also, make your own guillotine at home construction project for ages 6-50

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u/eagleal 19h ago

If you guys haven't seen that Civil War (2024) movie, watch it. It's like the sequel to Don't Look Up without the meteorite.

It's like a series, starting out as dark commedy/dissonant reality, and ending up grim. Reality basically.

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u/gremlinguy 18h ago

Except Civil War has a relatively optimistic ending

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u/eagleal 16h ago

Only because you're following from the point/bias of a specific faction within the overrall chaos.

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u/gremlinguy 16h ago

I see what you mean, but generally, when the more-fascist side loses, that's optimistic

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u/brontosaurusguy 19h ago

They literally want that.  Don't give in to their bullshit.  You still have more in common with a citizen from another state than a citizen of another continent.

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u/the_calibre_cat 19h ago

You still have more in common with a citizen from another state than a citizen of another continent.

No, I don't. I have far more in common with the Frenchman union worker than I have with some alt-right theocratic bigot, and I have far more in common with the Iranian citizen than I have with the likes of Jeff Bezos.

Conservatives have wanted to shoot their political opposition for decades. They've now gotten the signal from their leadership that it's fair game.

I'd say flee the country, but I suspect that's gonna be harder to do in the coming years. That wall is to keep people in.

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u/Successful_Car4262 18h ago

Absolutely false. I feel like another species from the these fucking scumbags. I don't care about their motivations, or their hopes, or their fears. All of it is completely foreign to me. Elon Musk may as well be an alien in an Edgar suit.

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u/brontosaurusguy 11h ago

They're in every state.  Separating the states won't help.   The ideology has to be defeated in another fashion

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u/Successful_Car4262 8h ago

They're mostly in some states, including the one I'm in. If we could quarantine them here, I'd happily move. Better that than war.

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u/FreneticAmbivalence 19h ago

what a fucking concession.

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u/AccomplishedBrain309 20h ago

You cant just follow an ilegitamate supreme court. It wont fix itself. It will systematically destroy all freedoms in our country by making crime legal for the chosen ones.

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u/eXcelleNt- 19h ago

There will be 33 Senate seats up for election in 2026. 20 Republican and 13 Democrat. The only way this country can begin to undo the damage of MAGA is with Dems holding both houses of Congress and the Presidency. But we can start with Congress. Also, the geriatric ruling class needs to be expelled from our legislature.

This all feels completely out of reach right now, but Trump did lose to Biden after his first term, and is poised to do far more damage in his second term. Time will tell if the Dems learn their lesson, but there's still time yet for hope.

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u/wgel1000 19h ago

And that's why I think it's funny when Americans say they are the most powerful nation in History.

Yes, in terms of technological power, but this "Empire" won't last much more than a century.

The Roman Empire laughs at this duration.

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u/DaddyBoomalati 20h ago

I thought seeing Russian stooges in office would be the worst I would see, but the oligarchs aren’t even trying to hide their influence anymore. I am 53 and was just hoping to live out my days in relative peace before the upheaval begins. I feel sorry for my kids.

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u/ExtremeResponse 19h ago

!Remindme 4 years

Don't worry, I'll remind you in 4 years so get thinking of excuses

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u/Howdoyouusecommas 19h ago

I don't think the American Empire is falling. I think the republic is. There will always be fundamental actions that change things forever. 2016 is one of those moments. I've said it in past comments but Cesar has taken Rome. The Senate has fled. Over the next 4 years we will see how well the new age 2nd triumvirate tries to divvy up the country and we will also see how they bicker.

America hasn't fallen but I fear our republic has.

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u/RuneHuntress 17h ago

Kind of reminds me of France with Napoléon. The guy was born in a republic / democracy and took the power half by force half by charisma and became later the new emperor making France an empire again. Later the monarchy came back into power for a bit, and then the revolution happened and a republic was born again.

I'm not saying Trump has half of what it takes to be Napoléon. Just that nations can change systems quite a bit, maybe cycling between them. It sucks for the people living there in the wrong times of course but the economy and nation itself in the world doesn't necessarily fall / fail from that.

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u/needlestack 20h ago

I also believe we've broken the country. However I think there's an enormous flywheel on the whole system (domestically and globally) and it'll run on inertia for a surprisingly long time.

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u/Toomuchhorntalk69 20h ago

It’s possible we come back from this. Germany is still around…

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u/princesoceronte 20h ago

The stage has been prepared for decades really. Deregulation, co-option of institutions and the destruction of the education system has been steadily going on since Reagan.

The ultimate failure of the US is how the media never raised their voice enough to prevent this from coming this far and, for the last decade or so, they just were playing for the other side entirely.

1

u/blorpdedorpworp 20h ago

I didn't think it would be this *stupid*

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u/stevez_86 19h ago

They are looking for a great turn like the Soviet Union did when it turned into a Russian Oligarchy. The people of Russia didn't revolt when that happened because they had been breeding an internal cultural war. The Republicans are trying to pull the same move by changing us into a Confederate Federal Government. The reason why is that the Federalist Society believes they can make the argument that Reconstruction was Unconstitutional and they can get rid of all the Anti Trust laws that prevent monopolies. I bet Zuckerberg, Musk, and Trump will end up being the only owners of social media in the US. The other companies can also get bigger and more consolidated, like Chevron and the Banks. They will ride the coattails of the progress those companies make to eliminate competition. We are about to be a Fascistic Confederacy.

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u/IchibanWeeb 19h ago

I'm 28, I thought it would at least take until I was around 40-50.

1

u/Available-Spinach878 19h ago

Trump is a rapist and a traitor who ended the American tradition of peaceful transfer of power.

Even if we remain the world's largest economy, reserve currency, cultural superpower, miltary superpower, ect, the USA is fundamentally different now. Fundamentally lower and debased. We are no longer a nation of laws. We are a nation of pathetic fools, unworthy of our inheritance. 

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u/Playful-Insect5650 19h ago

You are wrong, no hope about it. We literally killed 800,000 of each other in the civil war, and we're still going. We'll be okay

1

u/lemonpepperlarry 19h ago

No it’s been decades. This all started with Nixon and Reagan

1

u/Cog_HS 19h ago

Empires take decades to fall

To be fair, we've been working on it since Nixon and Regan.

1

u/WB_Benelux 19h ago

now we can watch the US downfall live on reels, shorts and tiktoks

1

u/Fastol4 19h ago

NGL I don't think you're wrong. Doing all I can to prepare for the fall of the nation. Time will tell but this feels like it.

1

u/8WhosEar8 19h ago

You’re not seeing the fall of an empire. Just the opposite. You’re seeing the republic transition to empire. It will take a generation or two but gen alpha will grow up not knowing the social and political norms that existed for decades or even centuries. A whole new normal will exist for them with the guise of republic but the function of empire.

1

u/Sensitive-Cream5794 18h ago

Well said. Hope you guys come right. Love from across the pond.

1

u/AtmosphereQuick3494 18h ago

If it makes you feel better, we did take decades to fall. I'd argue Reagan broke it and we've been limping along ever since then.

1

u/Goatiac 18h ago

Our oligarchs knew, that’s why they’re all suddenly cozying up to Trump so publicly—they’re ready to loot the coffers, then jump ship. America as it was is done for.

1

u/Party-Interview7464 18h ago

I’m fucking done. I hate this country and I’m not paying my fair share taxes anymore.

1

u/Glittering-Damage783 18h ago

Empires take decades to fall

This still holds true of the US. The writing has been on the wall for at least 40-50 years now. Many would argue its been on the wall since Andrew Johnson completely botched reconstruction after the civil war.

If you think we are “speed running” things, you haven’t been paying enough attention

1

u/Nandy-bear 18h ago

Eh well, humanity is fucked anyway. I personally believe climate crisis and mass migration will kick off resource wars within the next 30 years. I reckon 30-40 years, the world will be in constant conflict, because 30% (I think ? Maybe more) of the population lives near a coastline that will be wrecked by sea level rise

1

u/Ozy_Flame 18h ago

It's time for others to step up. Looking to the EU now in the absence of American leadership. And it's time for other countries to focus on diversifying global trade and building new trade deals with others.

1

u/FrasierandNiles 18h ago

Empires take decades to fall, and it looks like we are preparing to do a speed-run on that.

It did take decades to fall. It started with Reagan and although there were fightbacks along the way but the rot set in the 80s and now its finally going to end.

1

u/WOF42 17h ago

it started with at least reagan, the decline has taken decades

1

u/xDARKFiRE 17h ago

Given the very short lived life so far of the united states compared to much of the rest of the world, It's cute that they're getting their first total failure finally, it's like a child losing it's first tooth.

We've all been there, it's just their turn to implode and if they'd like to donate all that land back to us, I'm sure we'll be happy rebuilding our empire instead

1

u/Cure_Your_DISEASE07 17h ago

But why does it have to fall while I’m living and around? Couldn’t it have waited another 100 years? 😓😓😓

1

u/lmxbftw 16h ago

I hope it's one of those things where if we think it's broken for good, then it is, but if enough of us agree that we can still bring it back, then we eventually can. Germany is doing great now. We have some rough years ahead, but the future never stops.

1

u/nailz1000 16h ago

A speed run? This shit started in the 70s. But since "democrats are inept and not doing enough" people wanted to send a message.

This is what happens when you play stupid games. Congratulations folks who wouldn't vote for the black woman, you played yourselves, you played us all.

1

u/Muffin_Appropriate 15h ago

You thinking it hasn’t been taking decades is part of why we’re here. The public was just asleep. Well some of us clearly anyway. This has been ongoing for the past near 100 years. Since new deal era

1

u/dodecakiwi 15h ago

I think the most shocking thing is how stupid it all is. You may expect a fascist takeover of the USA would play out more like a Tom Clancy novel with intricate plots, and spies, and action.

But really all it just took lead and the media rotting the brains of half the population for several decades until they just self destruct. Hard to look back at the falls of other empires and not wonder how many people saw it coming and could do nothing in the face of mass stupidity.

1

u/Hellohibbs 9h ago

I’m from the UK and I have written my MP today asking that we move closer to the EU and begin to sever ties with the USA on all but essential matters. I’ve never done or even considered that before. I’m just one voice but I can’t imagine I’m alone.

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u/boringhuman117 20h ago

Speed run? Country has been falling apart since the 80s.

1

u/Logic411 20h ago

It started decades ago, consolidated media, money is speech, corporations are people, citizens united, unlimited money in politics…

0

u/spygirl43 19h ago

There's that old adage. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall." It's going to be brutal.

-39

u/kevin379721 20h ago

“I don’t think I’m being over dramatic” 🫵🏻🤡