Rise of Fascism in the United States [SPLIT]

[TX-Beau]

Aren't the Republicans the ones who are constantly whining about unelected bureaucrats overstepping their bounds?

Pointing out the hypocrisy and dishonestly on the right is pointless. The people who spout the lies and the people who repeat them are pretty much just ignorant bigots acting out their petty selfishness out of spleen.

They are perfectly happy when they believe they are hurting someone else, preferably brown - or LBGTQ. That's the whole point.

It's pathetic, but there you are. there's no saving them.

 

[rareboy]

I could go back to my Trump's Reichstag Fire Moment thread but honestly, IO can't be fucking bothered.

Mark my words though. This Congress will grant him this power within the next two years.

And Americans won't do a fucking thing about it.

 

[ravenstone]

I could go back to my Trump's Reichstag Fire Moment thread but honestly, IO can't be fucking bothered.

Mark my words though. This Congress will grant him this power within the next two years.

And Americans won't do a fucking thing about it.

Fear-mongering, the Senate will never pass such a law.

 

[KaraBulut]

Mark my words though. This Congress will grant him this power within the next two years.

Congress doesn't have to do anything. They've been sitting on their hands for decades while Presidents declared war without Congressional authorization. They've allowed Executive Orders (EO) to become how Presidents create legislation without negotiating with Congress. For example, in 1979 Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 12170 during the Iran crisis in order to freeze Iranian assets and that EO was still in effect 40 years later.

Trump is creating "emergencies" to grant himself powers that Presidents only have during periods of crisis. He signed an EO declaring an "energy emergency" even though the US is currently the world's largest petroleum producer and is pumping more oil than ever. What did Congress do about it? Nothing.


Trump is a problem. But the bigger problem and the one that Americans have created is a feckless Congress full of people who don't want to do anything other than raise money to get themselves re-elected. They had two chances to impeach and convict him. We are where we are because of the Republicans in Congress. And it they don't wake up and put a stop to the White House power grab, there's only going to be one solution to stopping Trump.

 

[LilBit]

Fear-mongering, the Senate will never pass such a law.

I'm not sure if this is optimism or naiveté.

 

[rareboy]

^The reality is, the GQP Congress has already tried to abet his takeover...first, by trying to push through his entire agenda under reconciliation and then to defend his attempt to shut down critical spending. They are sitting by as he created an artificial pretext to destroy a Trade Treaty under another 'Emergency' Act.

That is in the first 10 days. 10 Days.

His regime is likely making promises for pay-offs directly to Congressional reps for silence and acquiescence.

This time around, there is a plan that has been devised by people way smarter than Trump to seize power. He is just their tool.

And I am not sure there are enough good people left in Congress or the Courts to stop him and his malignant band of oligarchs.

 

[rareboy]

PBS and NPR have been targets of the right wing for decades.

Now under Trump, they are more likely to be shut down than ever before.

PBS, NPR Say They Comply With U.S. Regulations After Trump-Appointed FCC Chairman Warns They May Be ‘Violating Federal Law’ by Airing Ads

PBS and NPR said they comply with US guidelines after Trump-appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr ordered an investigation into their commercial practices.

variety.com

And I can guarantee that Bernie and the Dems can't and won't do anything about it.

 

[KaraBulut]

One of the autocratic strategies is to overwhelm everyone with a "flood the zone" strategy. Twitter and TikTok are playing along, flooding everyone with so much disinformation that it's difficult to tell what is the truth and what is fiction.

Here's a website that is keeping a running list of what Trump and cronies are doing daily:

Political News for Normal People.

Your essential guide to the shock and awe in national politics. A sane, once-a-day newsletter helping normal people make sense of the news.

whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com

 

[cityboy-stl]

Fear-mongering, the Senate will never pass such a law.

The Senate doesn't need to. The Supreme Court has already done it with their "Trump is immune from the law" decision. This decision is tantamount to the German Enabling Act. I'm sure this must be known. If it isn't, certain people really need to catch the fuck up.

 

[cityboy-stl]

I'm not sure if this is optimism or naiveté.

It's rejection of reality and deflection.

 

[purina]

Not sure how helpfull this coud be.

Declassified CIA Guide to Sabotaging Fascism Is Suddenly Viral

The World War II-era "Simple Sabotage Field Manual" is full of steps that office workers can take to resist leadership.

www.404media.co

 

[KaraBulut]

The mainstream media spent a lot of time this weekend pearl-clutching over Trump's latest outrage. Here's what they didn't show you:

Chicago:

Los Angeles:

Jacksonville:

Houston:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/immigration-protests-trump-20136075.php

Meanwhile, the impacts on agricultural workers, particularly in strawberries and citrus crops where manual picking is required, is starting to be felt. Some reports are that between 25% to 75% of workers are AWOL. Business media is saying, "Nothing to see here". Left-leaning and Chinese owned media is saying, "Fields are empty of workers and crops are rotting on the vine!".

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article299379919.html

California Farm Bureau not seeing widespread farm labor disruptions

The California Farm Bureau stated in a news release Thursday that despite reported concerns among some farm employees, it has not observed widespread workforce disruptions across the state. The California Farm Bureau represents more than

thebusinessjournal.com

Can the Central Valley's agriculture industry survive the Trump administration?

Communities in the Central Valley are on heightened alert as President Trump looks to follow through on his promises of historic mass deportations.

www.latimes.com

Central Valley farmworkers scared to show up to work over deportation fear

The California Farm Bureau says fears in the Central Valley have led to migrant farmworkers not showing up for work, which has virtually halted the area’s citrus harvest.

www.nbcbayarea.com

 

[cityboy-stl]

There was a protest here as well.

Thousands protest in St. Louis over federal immigration policies

 

[rareboy]

This is how Dems Could be fighting back. On everything.

 

[rareboy]

Because the GQP need the poorly educated.

 

[rareboy]

These are now the words that can get a scientific grant pulled.

 

[rareboy]

It is worth the read of Heather Cox Richardson's 'Letters from an American' of Feb 3rd.

Americans are sitting by doing nothing while an unelected psychopath takes a wrecking ball to government without any oversight by Congress.

In fact, with the apparent complicity of Congress which doesn't want its fingerprints on moves likely to be unpopular with their own voters.

Musk (with Trump's blessing) is moving from department to department to get rid of anything he personally doesn't like...with his baby bro. team accessing more personal data than TIK TOk could have dreamed about.

One of the latest targets? Department of Education, where they are apparently combing through student records.

At the end of the day, Trump really didn't even need the kind of enabling act that Hitler had passed in order to seize control over the power of the purse. This week he has made it clear that Congress is completely superfluous as a branch of Government and has basically broken the US constitution with a team of six 19-24 year old kids.

February 3, 2025

I’m going to start tonight by stating the obvious: the Republicans control both chambers of Congress: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

heathercoxrichardson.substack.com

 

[rareboy]

And from Robert Reich...a lengthy Facebook post:

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

I know a lot of people won't get on to FB, so I am copying his post.

Friends,

Elon Musk vowed yesterday to unilaterally cancel hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of government grants after he and his goons gained access to the Treasury Department’s vast payments system over the weekend.

The Treasury system disburses $5.4 trillion a year, or 88 percent of all federal payments, including social security checks. David Lebryk, who had spent more than 36 years in government and was responsible for overseeing the payments system — resigned abruptly Friday rather than turn over the system to Musk.

[Quoted Text: Truncated] Meta platforms like Facebook are generally protected by copyright, meaning the creator of the content holds the rights to it.

 

[Dargelos]

Time to remember that this book was written even before Orwell's 1984.
Lewis predicts the future with frightening accuracy.
It can't happen here? sorry, it already has.


From Wikipedia;

It Can't Happen Here

It Can't Happen Here is a 1935 dystopian political novel by the American author Sinclair Lewis. Set in a fictionalized version of the 1930s United States, it follows an American politician, Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip,, a demagogue who is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government via self-coup and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, and Doremus Jessup, a newspaper editor who sees Windrip's fascist policies for what they are ahead of time and who becomes Windrip's most ardent critic.

 

[rareboy]

At least it is a small start. A VERY small start. Most of it sounds like pap designed to angle for small donor donations for 2026 stead of drafting a bold and aggressive set of actions.

But don't expect the GOP to pass any restriction on Musk.

And watch the Dems cave when Johnson tries to ram through the rest of Trump's agenda under reconciliation.