“Republican politicians face threats of violence if they oppose [Donald Trump],” but a New York Times guest essay, published Thursday morning, claims that shouldn’t stop them from trying.
Steven Levitsky, Lucan Way, and Daniel Ziblatt are the three political scientists who wrote the essay. They study how democracies come to an end.
“America has, with stunning speed, descended into a world in which opponents of the government fear criminal investigations, lawsuits, tax audits, and other punitive measures.”
The writers added, “Even Republican politicians are, as one former Trump administration official put it, ‘scared’ out of their minds ‘about death threats.’”
Oh I’m sorry, did stoking the fires of misinformation and creating a constant state of fear in your base result in a dangerous environment? Who could have seen that coming?
Yeah, they were perfectly happy to ride the tiger when it was hurting people they hated and giving them power over ignorant bigots.
Don’t believe for a second congressional Republicans are going to “awaken.” We’re well past that. More fear just will make them cower and grovel even harder.
They were already so spineless at two impeachments that they refused to save themselves or us from this, when salvation from Trump was served to them on a silver platter - they’re weak, pathetic lumps of misshapen ego.
Everybody staunchly walks the party line until their own wallet is impacted. With how much he is tanking the country at a certain point they may actually try to boot his ass out.
A lot of those people have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the market already, I would assume. That was never a factor in his first term when he had more guardrails on.
It’s pretty clear at this point he has zero capability of building a functional and competent administration, hes screwed over anyone with half a brain already. Its an administration in the style of your local Walmart or Amazon warehouse now. Pure meat grinder
I was sure COVID killing off 15-20k people per day would sober the MAGAts up. Boy, did I feel silly.
1.2 million Americans dead and they act like it didn’t even happen.
They specifically say that it didn’t even happen.
They think it didn’t. That it is fake news, just people lying about what killed people. Or not worse than the flu. Or whatever.
You can’t infringe on the freedoms of others even if doing so would save other people’s lives. That’s un-American.
Unrelated, but I heard there’s a trans cross country runner a few states over who’s winning most of the regional track meets. We have to put a stop to that at all costs.
Depending on the scenario, I wouldn’t always disagree with that.
At least the first thing. The second is obviously the greatest issue that the nation faces. In all of human history, really.
Cheer up. The way things are going, history could repeat itself with bird flu, or some new super strain of RSV or measles.
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Seriously.
“Well, I joined Jim Jones and his church, because I thought he was the messiah. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I am disillusioned now, but I am afraid to stand up to him, or leave the compound because of the threat of violence.”
Yeah, The colloquial term for this is painting yourself in a corner. You shouldn’t have bent over backwards to appeal to extremists in the first place. Now you’ve created a situation that’s essentially an open powder keg next to a bonfire
They’ve been just about to turn on Trump any day now for 8 years, it’s never going to happen
hate is a powerful thing. and it’s what binds them together.
The Farce
For the actual politicians it was originally mostly just the greed. And cowardice. Genuine hate is creeping up the list though as all the hate-enablers get replaced by true believers. Who are also greedy cowards.
I personally have the opinion that if they did stand up and stop this, they would find more support than threats. Thanks everyone for electing spineless representatives in this trying time.
Yep. They’re such cowards that they won’t act until they fear violence even more for not standing up to Trump. One day, everyone will pretend that they were ALWAYS against Trump.
but an ‘awakening’ is near: experts
Yeah sure. If you still believe that the US can be saved from its impending doom, you are part of the problem imo.
Democrats, independants, and anyone else who stands up to Trump already face death threats, and yet they keep doing it.
Why are republicans such chicken shits? Also, it’s laughable to think that there’s a low they won’t tolerate.
Republicans are chicken shits because, with the people they’ve convinced to vote for them, if they stand up to Sweet Potato Hitler, they’ll be out of a job. Then they’ll have to actually work, or become one of the poors (less rich)
My question was rhetorical. It was meant to highlight how cowardly they are and really drive home unlikely they are to flip on Trump.
Conservatives are culturally incapable of true civic defiance or revolutionary action. It just isn’t in their nature. They obey the authoritarian. It’s just what they are.
Don’t go looking to the right end of the political spectrum if you’re looking for rebellion.
The whole ideology of conservatism is to conserve the status quo. Literally waking up to reality is being against anyone still a conservative.
They can’t do anything except follow the mob because leaving the mob requires critical thinking and some fucking chutzpah.
but an ‘awakening’ is near: experts
lol
Fingers crossed that if they choose violence it’s against each other…
I’m 100% sure that this is as near as the Republican obituary.
