Trump was already facing multiple criminal and civil suits in 2016. They had 8+ years to hold him accountable for even a single thing, and didn’t.
Yeah this is an important point. If the system lets guys like Trump get away with obvious crimes for 8 years, and that’s when it’s working as intended, then the system needs to be dismantled. Maybe the only way to drain the swamp is to let it turn into a sinkhole that drags everything down with it. Not that we have much choice in the matter at this point.
The thing is that even though Trump is incredibly stupid and incompetent, the people influencing him aren’t. It will never completely fail, regardless of how bad it gets for the average person. They’ll ensure that it meets their needs until we’re right back to living in a medieval feudal system. Hell, we’re almost there already, except there’s still some pretty comfortable people in the middle. But that class is rapidly shrinking, and the feudal lords are tightening their grip.
Don’t destroy swamps. They’re massive sinks of carbon and havens for biodiversity. Leave the swamp alone.
I could go for kicking Merrick Garland in the dick. Might make me feel just a little better.
“No one in their right mind is backing 2025…”
Then why did YOU?!
Ahh yes the joke that they posted a several hundred page memo about and had been celebrating up until the point they realized it had gotten spread and they were getting criticized for it.
“He’s probably just joking” is something I heard so much over the past few years about things the right has been spewing. THEY ARE NOT JOKING, THEY ARE NEVER JOKING! I don’t know how this is a hard thing to understand.
Trump says ‘I don’t kid’ after aides argue he was joking about slowing coronavirus testing.
Fuck, my neighbor says the same every time Trump says something awful. “Trump just talks a lot of shit, he’s just joking.”
Fuck you neighbor, you approved leadership from the guy who encouraged putting kids in cages.
They lie all the time.
we just don’t get to know when it’s happening. People that trust those guys go with a “this is too horrible, so they must be lying” heuristic, that has been proven not to work several times. The problem is that an heuristic is not supposed to be reliable, and it’s hard to make them see beyond the noise.
I used to have a boss who like to joke about firing people on his team. He was a nice guy and there was no ill intention behind the jokes, but we eventually had to sit him down and tell him that he couldn’t joke about that stuff because it causes a great deal of stress to people given his position.
Another example is bomb jokes in airports. Aside from just being in poor taste, that’s something that will get you arrested and probably put on a no-fly list for life because it’s an extremely serious matter with no exceptions.
So, even if Trump and his people are just joking about these horrible things, it’s completely unacceptable when it’s entirely believable they would do this stuff and would be in a position to make it happen.
TLDR: There are just some things you don’t fucking joke about.
I joke about firing people sometimes, but I am not a manager and never want to be managing anyone. I only say it to people who know that I have no power over them which is the only time this joke is OK.
I do IT at a semiconductor foundry, and only us and managers walk around with laptops. I don’t even have to say anything, and people get in panic mode and scramble to look like they are working until I say don’t worry, I’m just IT. I won’t say a word.
The difference is that people who joke about bombs in airports typically don’t actually think bombs in airports are a good idea.
“I don’t like it when you show me what I’m supporting”
I agree, but also leave them a path to change their mind. If they admit fault, stop pressuring them. If you continue to hound them after they admit the mistake, it’s likely only going to make them double down. Revenge, or whatever, doesn’t help anything. We want them to recognize it was a bad decision and change their behavior in the future.
True, the goal is reconciliation with them once they learn to behave better
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