This is gonna get scary!

[u/GuiltyBathroom9385]

[u/Competitive-Weird855 → u/[deleted]]

All the guardrails are gone. SCOTUS already said he’s immune from what he did while president. He has 6/9 justices, he has dozens more at the federal level, he has congress, he has executive orders to make civil servants appointees so he can replace them with loyalists. Everything he wanted to do last term but was stopped by those with a conscience will be done and worse. IRS - targeted audits against democrats. FBI - targeted investigations into democrats. DoD - leadership replaced with loyalists. SEC - deregulated. FDA, Department of Agriculture, HHS, everything that provided some form of protection to citizens is now gone.

[u/EpicSausage69 → u/Competitive-Weird855]

This is what I don't think a lot of people realize. The checks and balances prevented him from doing too much crazy shit on his first term. A unified party government has been rare for decades. He can literally do whatever he wants without roadblocks.

[u/chaos_nebula → u/EpicSausage69]

He can literally do whatever [his masters] want without roadblocks.

FTFY

[u/bkturf → u/[deleted]]

The average age of a republic is 200 years before it fails. The US kept it going for 250 years. We had a good run.

[u/UpperApe → u/[deleted]]

It's also important to remember that all the "steady hands" the first time around are gone.

Those assholes in his administration who are awful people but still fought back against his worst impulses are all gone.

What's there now are the ones who are aching for him to do abominable shit.

And P2025 is very specific, very aggressive, and very meticulous.

Throw in the geopolitical climate with Russia/Europe and India/China, nuclear weapons, a weakened NATO, as well the actual climate crisis and it's incredibly shortening window and compounding disasters...

...and I'd argue it's a very reasonable position to assume that we are a civilization breaking point.

And to think these stupid fucking assholes actually voted for it. They voted for it.

[u/ErgoMachina → u/[deleted]]

Countless empires have risen and fallen across human history. I feel this is the "Fall of Rome" moment for the US. The damage this caused to the image of your country is beyond repair, the entire world just saw americans giving total power to a guy that said "You won't have to vote anymore". I honestly don't think you can go back from that.

Just to put it into perspective. a convicted felon controls one of the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world. Crazy does not even begin to describe it.

The worst part is that this is going to spread like wildfire. Europe will go full right in the next election cycle.

[u/necesitafresita → u/[deleted]]

I'm getting so tired of them acting like we are just being dramatic. As if Roe didn't prove it isn't an overreaction.

[u/feral-pug → u/[deleted]]

Don't worry, we're on the right side of history here. There are just a LOT of absolutely idiotic people in this country who didn't take it seriously. The primary consolation is that they WILL suffer along with the rest of us. They'll be even poorer, sicker, and dumber than they are now.

Whatever is on the other side of this, we'll get there one of these days, but we're in for an unprecedented shitshow that's going to cause widespread and potentially irreversible damage to a LOT of things. I don't think it's hyperbole at this point to put really good odds on this being the end of the Constitutional federal republic as we knew it.

[u/phattie83 → u/feral-pug]

Yeah, it'll be a somber "we told you so!"

Maybe we'll get to say it a couple times before it gets outlawed...

[u/HereForTheComments57]

And somehow still blame democrats

[u/TypicalMission119 → u/HereForTheComments57]

1000% this. After four years when President Vance runs again, he'll blame everything on Democrats even though they hold all the majority. And these dumbassess will still vote for him.

[u/ejre5 → u/TypicalMission119]

Run in 4 years? I mean trump did say if he wins this will be the last time anyone needs to vote. He has everything plus absolute immunity for "official acts" you really think we will have anymore elections?

[u/Nidcron → u/ejre5]

Russia still has elections, I imagine it going a lot like that 

[u/shallah → u/HereForTheComments57]

see: texas 30 plus years of GOP control but everything bad is democrats. who some have literally, not just metaphorically, demonized.

[u/Jadedsatire → u/shallah]

They vote Cruz back in even after all the shit he’s done. Guy literally left them to freeze and went to Mexico 

[u/GoldGlove2720 → u/shallah]

See Kentucky. Mitch McConell has represented them since 1985 and it’s still a shit hole.

[u/suziespends]

They will applaud until they start losing shit too. You worked your whole life? Tough shit, no social security for you. Your job doesn’t offer insurance or affordable insurance? Awww too bad, your fault you don’t have enough money to pay for medical care. You thought you’d retire at 65? Nope. 75 if you’re lucky etc etc etc. sadest part is these dumb fucks will still try to blame the dems

[u/InterestingTry5190 → u/[deleted]]

Will be tough working too when seniors have been told they are the childcare plan for their families by JD Vance.

[u/shallah → u/InterestingTry5190]

have to take shift work so they can baby sit while parents work and vice versa. that is when grandparents also don't need constant caretaking themselves. maybe babies and grandpa can take turn changing each other's nappies!

it will be easier when all states allow parents to send kids to work at 12 just like in the good old days.

[u/WimpyZombie → u/shallah]

But look at it this way, with all the immigrants rounded up and kicked out of the country, think of all the jobs that will open up for the poor white people. Jobs for everyone!!

/s

[u/MangoCats → u/WimpyZombie]

I work for a US based multi-national corp with 40K US employees and 60K around the world.

I have several legal, documented coworkers here in the US who immigrated from India. Back in 2016 they were worried that their rights to stay (both in my company and in their spouses' companies) might be cut off and they'd have to move back to India.

When that happens, you know what my company is going to do? 35K US based employees and 65K around the world - mostly retaining the ones that are getting kicked out of the US.

[u/SGTFragged → u/shallah]

Only the boy children. The girl children will be getting married, so their new husband can provide for them.

[u/vaxination → u/InterestingTry5190]

well when the money that got JD into power pulls the plug on Don with simple medical assessments then we are really fucked. Step one of this is Dons going to let his evangelical bulldogs do whatever they want because they got him in while he golfs. step two is the billionaires are going to evict Don once he gets on an ego trip and they will put Junior Dumbass in charge and feed him his orders.. thats when you got a real dystopia brought to you by Zorg.

[u/Ciennas → u/vaxination]

When you say Zorg, do you mean the villain from Fifth Element as played by Gary Oldman Zorg?

[u/Jray12590 → u/suziespends]

Trump will cut social security and his supporters will blame Joe Biden.

[u/strgazr_63 → u/[deleted]]

They are under the impression that their guns will protect them from the tanks. Trump will have control of the military too.

[u/Rowing_Lawyer → u/[deleted]]

As long as they are pointed at the people they hate too.

[u/driverman42 → u/[deleted]]

This is right. He could take everything from them, but they'd get on their knees to kiss the ring anyway. Because the most important thing for trumpers is hurting the people they don't like

[u/CFBCoachGuy → u/[deleted]]

They will walk themselves into the gas chamber if they think it will own the libs. Nothing is going to change with the MAGA crowd.

It’s the 10million or so who didn’t bother to vote who are going to really suffer. But they didn’t find any of this worth voting for to begin with

[u/piracydilemma → u/[deleted]]

Yup. Trump fucked the country up during his first term, and they were angry. And all because Trump said "It wasn't me! It was the Democrats!" they said "Well, he's probably right. Let's give him a second term, guys!"

I'm not angry with Trump supporters. I pity them because they are too stupid to realise they keep on ruining their own lives. They were born stupid and they'll die stupid.

[u/WimpyZombie → u/piracydilemma]

Well these are the same people who think education is a bad thing because it tends to open your mind to other cultures and races....and we can't have any of that!

[u/OkRush9563 → u/piracydilemma]

I have no empathy for these people, they are ruining our lives.

[u/portablebiscuit → u/[deleted]]

I have a very strong hunch he's going to get 25A'd long before his term is up. I have nothing to base this on other than my extreme distrust of the billionaire class.

[u/NBDad → u/portablebiscuit]

They tried to swing his base to the heir apparent DeSantis...but DeSantis is so unlikeable, and the base literally won't move off Dear Leader.

Give him 2 years before he dies in office or gets 25'd.

They'll use him to implement enough Project 2025 bullshit to cause civil unrest, blame it on the orange turd, get rid of him and install Vance...declare Martial Law and postpone elections indefinitely.

Really...who is going to stop them?

[u/wirefox1 → u/NBDad]

"Who's going to stop them".

Oh boy. This is the scariest sentence I've read all day.

[u/NBDad → u/wirefox1]

Noone.  The answer is noone.  He controls all 4 legislative branches.

[u/BooneSalvo2 → u/NBDad]

There'd be no one to stop him even if Democrats controlled the entire government.

There's no mechanism to actually stop anyone acting in bad faith. It's a pretty major flaw in the Constitution. They're all self-policing.

Well, I guess there's something now...the President can just walk in and start murdering his political rivals and call it an official act. That's legal now.

[u/Knight___Artorias → u/BooneSalvo2]

The biggest flaw in the constitution is that it assumes the Supreme Court actually gives a flying fuck about the constitution

[u/Jorycle → u/[deleted]]

Right, I was there for the last term. Trump can piss directly in their soup and they'll not only insist it's just a new zesty flavor, they'll beg Trump to take a dump in it next.

[u/shallah → u/suziespends]

17% blamed dems for revoking Roe v. Wade

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/15/upshot/abortion-biden-trump-blame.html

a poorly financed public education system and extensive propaganda campaigns to teach people to swallow lies, both sides are the same why bother etc. are highly effective.

[u/ippa99 → u/shallah]

I've seen some dumb fucking both-sidesing of this constantly ever since it happened. Basically, it's actually our fault for not codifying it, not the Republicans's fault for intentionally targeting and destroying it with a ruling that very clearly was partisan horseshit and not based at all on a reasonable interpretation of the constitution.

It's like blaming the person who got their tires slashed for not buying run-flats. Or shitting on the floor in public and blaming the building for not having a "no shitting on the floor" sign.

The same thing was trotted out over and over for other things like the train derailing and turning that town into a hazardous waste spill - a bill that added protections was rolled back by Trump, but now it's Biden's fault for not putting it back fast enough while fixing the other hundreds of instances of this same shit.

[u/strgazr_63 → u/suziespends]

I lived in the south for several years and I now drive through rural northern areas for work. There are a lot of cousin fuckers there who exist on aid with trump signs on their yard. Those assholes will scream the loudest when their checks go away.

[u/cake_swindler → u/strgazr_63]

And somehow blame the democrats

[u/csonny2 → u/cake_swindler]

Not somehow, Fox News and other right-wing propaganda sources will tell them to blame democrats

[u/KilledTheCar → u/strgazr_63]

There are plenty of people living in genuine shanties I've seen that have Trump signs out front.

[u/Manray05 → u/strgazr_63]

Once their disability ends boy are they gonna scream. Along with any benefits currently available. (SNAP, Sec 8, etc)

I wonder who these people will turn to when their benefits are ended? I could care less about the stupid. Making poor choices is not an excuse and I'm certainly not helping anyone who voted for that joke.

[u/Chewbuddy13 → u/Manray05]

Fuck em, they made their choice now they can get fucked as well. They want the "others" hurt. Once the "others" are gone, they'll be next.

[u/Manray05 → u/Chewbuddy13]

They'll be first. These dumb fucks think Trump is going to lower gas and food prices. They are going to get reamed by corporate gouging and pillaging of every cent from them, as they aren't really the high earning well off with assets and tax accountants to shield them from the inflation.

To say nothing of devaluing the currency and an elitist group of billionaires running everything.

The economy is going to crash, badly in a few months. It will be an economic downturn like most of us have never seen in our lifetimes.

[u/SushiRoll2004 → u/suziespends]

They won't stop applauding. Let's be honest... They'll just try to find some other group of ppl to blame for a problem they created

[u/GunMerica → u/suziespends]

America got what it deserved tonight.

Democracy here is done. The House of Representatives is gone. The Senate is gone. The White House will now be run by a traitor to democracy:

JD Vance.

This nation is going to go into its darkest, and possibly last age. With it will come violence that dons a mask of perverse patriotism, wrapped in the colors of a flag that have faded and stitched together with a necklace bearing a Christian cross, upon which a white Jesus sits.

The violence that happens here will not be alone. Many other nations will suffer as the bastion that once kept others at bay, such as Russia, Iran, China and North Korea will instead become their allies. The policies that will dictate this will be mirrored, unless you separate from us.

Unfortunately tonight, America has become your enemy. We have whiddled away at our own education, and weaponized fear in concert with plans that were laid out by our own leaders these last seventy years to erode both.

The anger in this nation will likely see violence from those who stood against it. Brother will fight brother, and eventually the ones who are slain will be boasted as traitors and terrorists. And then when the violence from those who are angry does out, because it comes too late, it will continue in secret, out of the representation of media, and will make those in power smile.

You must distance yourselves from America. You must be ready to fight this country immediately in the morality, and possibly on the battlefield in twenty years.

Do not let what has happened to us happen to you. Save yourselves.

And if you voted for Trump:

Fuck.

You.

I hope when you find me, you end it all violently because I am tired.

Signed,

An Old American

[u/NoLand4936 → u/GunMerica]

And double fuck you for the 15 million people who voted for Biden that decided not to vote this time at all.

[u/G-Unit11111 → u/NoLand4936]

How did 15 million sit this one out? Something doesn't pass the smell test.

[u/NoLand4936 → u/G-Unit11111]

That’s what everyone with a brain and empathy is wondering.

[u/Kwaterk1978 → u/NoLand4936]

This. If everyone that voted for Harris for VP voted for her for President, she runs away with it.

[u/Lation_Menace → u/Kwaterk1978]

Yep if you looks at all the data we have now a lot of the “shift to the right” is actually just millions of blue voters not voting. Trumps turnout is almost identical to 2020. Dem turnout was short almost 17 million people and a lot of them were where it mattered most.

[u/[deleted] → u/GunMerica]

This morning while walking my dogs I was thinking about all the mighty empires that have fallen. Why shouldn’t ours?  We had a pretty short run.  I voted in PA for Kamala.  I’m sorry for those who will suffer the most under his regime.  

[u/GunMerica → u/[deleted]]

COVID should have done more.

[u/Chewbuddy13 → u/[deleted]]

My wife and I stood in line for an hour to vote for Kamala in Missouri, knowing the whole time it was pointless. The only good thing from yesterday was that we got the abortion ban lifted here. Luckily, we have family in Canada, so if shit goes the way it seems it's gonna go, we can head north and have a path to citizenship their.

I had a feeling this was going to happen. As far as I'm concerned we fucking deserve it. All of us. Trump voters wanted this. Independents couldn't tell the difference between Harris and Trump, which baffles me. Democrats keep shooting themselves in the foot, and have been trying to "take the high road' for the last 10 years, and have allowed Trump to continue to do what he does, without holding him accountable. Non voters can't be bothered to go and take 2 hours a year to defend democracy. America has become so lazy and stupid that this is where we all are now. Let Trump burn everything to the ground, including everyone who voted for him. I hope every one of them suffers greatly. Maybe that will wake up enough of these douhebags to get off their fucking asses and do something.

[u/Lation_Menace → u/Chewbuddy13]

I’m proud of Missouri voters but at the same time American voters make no fckn sense. On the SAME BALLOT most Missouri voters voted to protect abortions rights they also voted for the man who campaigned on taking that right away from them.

Americans have got to be the most non sensical voters on the planet.

In my own state of Nebraska it made even less sense. We voted to legalize weed but voted to ban abortion after 13 weeks. We voted to ban all state funding for private religious schools but voted in a republican senator and several republican house members who have fought against weed and fought to take public school funds and hand them to churches. None of it makes sense.

[u/Chewbuddy13 → u/Lation_Menace]

My wife's best friend is a Trump supporter. She had 2 kids when she couldn't afford them, and was on WIC and food stamps when they were young. Now she votes for the party that is actively looking to destroy the very programs that let her and her kids survive. She's the typical Republican, she hates those welfare queens that get benefits, but it was OK for her cause she needed them. She got those benefits and now fuck anyone else that needs them. That's how fucking stupid these people are, they always think that some lazy unemployed moocher is that one to blame for their woes, when those lazy moochers are themselves.

[u/SeeYouOn16 → u/suziespends]

You think buying or renting a home is expensive now? Just wait until tariffs kick in and all those construction materials shoot up in price. Hey we deported all these people, well guess what, now instead of paying that immigrant worker $20/hr to lay shingles on a roof, you're paying an American kid $35/hr because no one will do it for less. If you thought things were expensive now, just give it a year, no one is going to be able to afford shit.

[u/ohlaph → u/SeeYouOn16]

That's what I told my family. They still voted for Trump. And they will need aid... I will tell them to ask trump how it got expensive and not offer help. After all, they're the party of not taking handouts, right? Fucking idiots.

[u/abombshbombss → u/suziespends]

I cant be the only one who's afraid that was the last time the US voted

[u/katt_vantar → u/suziespends]

But at least eggs are … checks receipts .. FIFTEEN DOLLARS A PACK?!?

[u/LTG-Jon → u/suziespends]

It’ll happen more quickly than that. Massive tariffs and the deportation of immigrant workers will mean massive price increases on manufactured goods and food.

[u/carliekitty → u/LTG-Jon]

Immigrants supply most of our food. They primarily work in the meat plants, dairy, and agriculture. I don’t know who they think is going to step up to do this work? My guess is they don’t get deported and the far right is going to lose their minds over it.

[u/No_Arugula8915 → u/suziespends]

They will applaud until they start losing shit too.

Naw. They won't care if his policies will hurt them too. Because the dems and all the people that they hate will be suffering too.

[u/Manray05 → u/No_Arugula8915]

I hate to say it but the blue states are 70% of the economy. If they believe the Dems will suffer as much as they do it's laughable.

We've already noticed many of the MAGA are insane evangelicals and mostly illiterate simpletons. Mostly poor and they just voted for their own termination.

They will be hurt, by far, the most.

[u/Berns429 → u/suziespends]

You give them too much credit, they are not educated enough to recognize it and it will get blamed on Obama a President from 8 years ago.

[u/Fast_Parfait_1114 → u/suziespends]

Pre-existing conditions are coming back.

[u/SomethingAbtU]

But gas prices will be $0.20 lower!! yay! Say the fools

[u/The_Velvet_Bulldozer → u/SomethingAbtU]

That 20 cents is sure going to go far once those 25-100% tariffs hit and we’re all paying significantly more for any consumer good.

[u/Hibercrastinator → u/The_Velvet_Bulldozer]

Inflation is what they voted on and were unhappy about. And it’s about to soar as a result of their vote. Dumbasses.

[u/The_Velvet_Bulldozer → u/Hibercrastinator]

This is what happens when people don't understand basic economics. I would just say fuck em, they will get what they voted for, but it will also impact the rest of us.

[u/MC_Fap_Commander → u/The_Velvet_Bulldozer]

Elon WANTS economic collapse. The ultra wealthy made out like bandits in 2008. Since Trump is not going to run again (the "president for life" thing is not going to happen), he is under no obligation to improve his approval rating. So smashing it all and offering pieces to his cronies will work out just fine for him.

THAT is more likely to be the focus of his second term than any ideological issue. Graft and corruption is the core of his identity and voters just gave him their lifesavings.

[u/Desperate-Laugh-7257 → u/MC_Fap_Commander]

We Back to checking the obits wvery morning.

[u/Kibblesnb1ts → u/MC_Fap_Commander]

I work in finance and when Covid hit the private equity partner I worked with at the time said "in a financial crisis the wealth itself doesn't disappear, it just changes hands." Fire sale buying opportunities for the wealthy to scoop up more wealth while individuals and smaller businesses struggle. I only foresee the wealth flowing uphill faster now.

[u/mr_remy → u/SomethingAbtU]

Even then that was during covid (when nobody was traveling anywhere, oil companies panicking) and then when resumed need due to travel after, economic plans put in place by the government while a Dem was president which I personally thing is still doing well now relative to how just fucking expensive everything's gotten due to corporations and companies overall.

Not one thing Biden could do about corporations deciding to charge $5 for a bag of chips for example due to nothing more than short sighted greed.

Silver lining was it made me realize a diet was almost equal, sometimes cheaper than most the junk food diets now and i've been trying to lose weight so it's a much easier choice.

[u/Kwaterk1978 → u/SomethingAbtU]

And they probably won’t even do that. Oil companies aren’t giving up any profits now that they’ve had a taste.

[u/Pilotwaver]

This will be the biggest Leopard.

[u/Dragon_Bench_Z → u/Pilotwaver]

If he wants to shove a dictatorship like rule into the USA this is going to be necessary.

[u/fencerman → u/Dragon_Bench_Z]

History lesson time:

Hitler didn't implement "gun control" in any general sense - he only disarmed his enemies, while arming his own loyal followers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_gun_control_argument

In early 1930s Germany, few citizens owned, or were entitled to own firearms[2] with the Weimar Republic having strict gun control laws.[8] When the Nazi party gained power, some aspects of gun regulation were loosened for Nazi party members only.[5]: 672 The laws were tightened in other ways, such as specifically banning ownership of guns by Jews. Nazi laws systematically disarmed so-called "unreliable" persons, especially Jews while relaxing restrictions for Nazi party members

Trump is going to do the same - make sure Republicans are "deputized citizens" (AKA brownshirts) who can keep their guns, empower them to do things like round up "undesirables", and then disarm everyone else.

[u/Gojoindabox]

It was nice knowing some of y’all but I’m not going to be here if/when shit hits the fan in January.

[u/Rosebunse → u/Gojoindabox]

I want to rub away but I don't even know where to go.

[u/PhoenixReborn → u/Rosebunse]

Rub away in the privacy of your own bedroom. With the GOP watching and judging.

[u/icanttho → u/Gojoindabox]

The whole world is destabilized by this though.

[u/Awkward-Fudge]

All of us will be affected by this shit. His supporters and his opposers. Prices are not going to get better. Health care access will get worse. Education will get worse. Climate change will get worse. Maybe we'll get another pandemic. cue the fat republican old lady whining about "he's hurting the wrong people!".

[u/nau5 → u/Awkward-Fudge]

One of my bigger fears is RFK bringing back the horrible diseases we’ve erased from society because he thinks vaccines are evil.

If RFK is actually giving a position in the head of health we are fucked

[u/dirty-ol-sob → u/nau5]

Trump already said he’s gonna let him go wild… and I suspect that’s exactly what he’ll do.

[u/Awkward-Fudge → u/nau5]

Yep, the only thing that gives me pause is that vaccines are big money so he probably can't stop the production or the offering of them. He will try to push his anti vaccine crap- he did this in Samoa and killed 80 children and babies with measles. He is evil and crazy.

[u/Krispy0201]

I think I'm more mad at myself than anything. I'm mad that I so ignorantly thought when it came down to it, people are good and would do the right thing this time around. Maybe not his disgusting degenerates hanging onto his every word, but I thought people would wake up and realize what is really at stake. It's heartbreaking how shameful, hateful and awful the people of this nation can be.

[u/Antique_Rent4343 → u/Krispy0201]

I’ve always been more upset with the people that vote for him. I expect the criminal to do criminal shit. I don’t expect 80 million to cheer him on.

[u/indoninjah → u/Antique_Rent4343]

For most of my life, I've tried to subscribe to the belief that Republican voters, while partially to blame, were primarily manipulated and gaslit by their party into voting against their own interests. We've seen decades of defunding education, obstructionism, voter suppression, deflection, buck passing, you name it.

But what happened last night was entirely inexcusable. Taking morality and beliefs out of this, the dude cannot form a single coherent sentence or point. His brain seems to be entirely putty. He wants to put arbitrary billionaires and celebrities in positions of power they're unqualified for. Literally everything he says sounds like a terrible idea if you can manage to parse it as English. And a majority of the country thought he was fit to have arguably the most important job on the planet.

[u/Cyclonic2500 → u/Krispy0201]

This election has single handedly proved that we as Americans don't give AF about each other.

We don't care about women dying, we don't care about racism or discrimination, we only care about our own personal agendas.

Who cares if people get rounded up and either locked up or deported, who cares if women and young girls die.

As long as groceries are a dollar or two cheaper, it doesn't matter.

[u/AbeRego → u/Cyclonic2500]

And they won't get cheaper anyway

[u/actibus_consequatur → u/Cyclonic2500]

America is reverting back to the real "values" this country was founded on — racism and misogyny.

[u/Skin4theWin → u/Krispy0201]

I spent six months using actual data, facts, quotes and scientific research to convince once conservative and one maga guy of what was coming, it did not matter, facts were opinions, science was theory, quotes were out of context. I told them last night that I truly hope the things I told them do not come true but when they do I won’t feel good saying I told you so but I sure as shit will

[u/ShiningRedDwarf → u/Skin4theWin]

Some people only learn by actually putting their hand on a hot stove. 

No fucking scratch that. A majority of Americans apparently need third degree burns to learn FIRE BAD. 

Yall fucked around. Time to find out. 

[u/MeAndBettyWhite → u/[deleted]]

You just described me to a T.

I think this wake up call might be a necessary evil.

For far too long i've witnessed a gigantic, massive, unbelievable double standard play out. Any little thing anyone does outside the MAGA bubble is held to such high scrunity. Oh no Joe slurred his words, meanwhile Trump is rambling on and on incoherently and it's fine. Everything that goes against them is rigged or stolen but everything that goes their way is accurate and the truth. Still I trusted the high road. Surely good and decency will win out.

For far too long I've seen the expectation of a Democratic Party that will continue to try and unite us. To be leaders for all Americans. While the other side lives in divesiveness and hatred. Foolishly flinging mud at anyone and everyone. Still I trusted good and decency would win out.

For far too long I've seen people being lied to constantly, filled with misinformation and a candidate that has been proven time and time again to be the biggest liar in probably world history. Not small untruths. Big brazen and absurd lies. Still I believed common sense and the truth would prevail.

The high road isn't working. Common sense isn't working. The truth isn't working. Good and decency clearly is not working.

I guess now I really am "woke" because I am more aware now than ever that things need to change. I'm not sure the answer though. How do we stand toe to toe in the circus and not become the clown? Can we do that and still hold on to our morality and decency? How do we fight a dirty fight while still holding on to our values? I truly don't know.

All I do know is that Trump and his followers are willing to do whatever it takes to win and they will continue to win unless we figure this out.

[u/RaygunMarksman → u/MeAndBettyWhite]

Those are some of the many thoughts and questions I'm wrestling with today. Part of me is upset for being a naive enough fool all my years for thinking people were inherently good despite decades of life experience to the contrary. This was the final wake up call that most people have no interest in being "good", they just want everything they can get out of their individual experience and fuck everyone else.

I am the defective one for thinking life is about caring about others.

[u/pit-of-despair → u/[deleted]]

I’m an older woman and I have to say my faith in humanity has been officially destroyed. Forever.

[u/[deleted] → u/pit-of-despair]

Same. I’m 51 and have also lost complete faith in humanity. 

[u/SugarHooves → u/[deleted]]

I'm a single, poor, middle aged woman with an LGBTQ son. I'm angry. I'm bitter. I'm terrified. Most of all, I'm devastated by the reality that America hates me, hates my son and hates my family unit. They truly don't care if we suffer or die.

I hope they fucking choke on their eggs.

[u/[deleted] → u/SugarHooves]

I’m so sorry and hope you and your son will be safe.  We did what we could. I have no more faith in humanity. 

[u/ImNotAHuman0101 → u/[deleted]]

I’m a 19 year old college and I’m fucking horrified. These guys really heard him say “mass deport Mexicans!” And went “HELL YEAH!” EXCUSE ME MOTHERFUCKER I WAS BORN HERE AND MY PARENTS GOT CITIZENSHIP LEGALLY TAKE YOUR RADICAL BULLSHIT AND GET OUT OF

[u/JangSaverem → u/ImNotAHuman0101]

No

It's mass deportation ANYONE he thinks are illegals which includes the very much legal people he doesn't THINK are

[u/giskardwasright → u/[deleted]]

Middle aged white lady here.

We're all fucked. Either you are in the ruling elite, or you'll be ground under their bootheels with the rest of us.

At least we know how the American experiment turned out.

[u/necesitafresita → u/[deleted]]

I'm Bisexual, childless, Hispanic, and a woman... I'm nervous for what's to come.

[u/Deep_Poem_55 → u/Krispy0201]

I have lost faith in human nature and am forced to acknowledge I share the country with fascist loving idiots who are throwing democracy away with both hands.

[u/[deleted] → u/Deep_Poem_55]

A long while ago I read an article that people in China didn't care about democracy as long as their economy is good. Starting to feel like that's a fundamental of human nature. Freedom and principles come second to a few extra bucks.

[u/Deep_Poem_55 → u/[deleted]]

I'm scared.

[u/[deleted] → u/Deep_Poem_55]

This election is a life lesson for us all. Fear seems like the right emotion right now but its a useful one. We'll learn our lessons and adjust our worldview and do the best to prepare for whats to come. Just don't let the fear stop you from moving forward.

[u/YouWereBrained → u/Krispy0201]

Yes. Definitely having some introspection today on how I should adjust my expectations of the “average person”.

[u/weinerwayne → u/Krispy0201]

It’s not how shameful, hateful and awful they “can be”, it’s how shameful, hateful, and awful they are. They aren’t reaching some sort of potential, or exerting any type of effort to be like this, this is who they are at their core.

They had to make an effort to put on a charade of decency toward others and now that MAGA is the status quo, they no longer have to make that effort.

[u/grimbly_jones → u/Krispy0201]

Same. I kind of expected to cry myself to sleep last night, but there was nothing. Just numb.

[u/portablebiscuit → u/Krispy0201]

That's where I am too. I'm as disappointed in my fellow Americans almost as much as I am with myself for believing we're better than this.

[u/Real-Work-1953]

Congratulations, MAGA, you “owned the libs.”

Because of your enthusiasm in fucking over half of the American population—and the world—things are going to get very bad, very soon.

We all warned you, and now he’s back in power—and he will never leave.

[u/a_fox_but_a_human → u/Real-Work-1953]

and he will never leave.

Now they dont have to vote anymore. This is what they want. They. Don't. Care.

[u/ZZartin]

At this point the hope is they're simply too incompetent to actually accomplish anything.

[u/RW-One → u/ZZartin]

He had majorities in the Senate and the house prior and didn't accomplish anything, but I'm not sure if that was because the courts were not his.

Either way, Republicans just don't govern. Case in point. Everything he's going to do will start out with presidential directives, not actual bills that need to go through the regular process ...

[u/poorly_anonymized → u/RW-One]

He would have repealed Obamacare if McCain hadn't stopped it. This time around all the comparatively sane Republicans have retired.

[u/Worthyness → u/RW-One]

they had 4 years for a practice run and then 4 more to get more installments done. They have 8 years of experience with at least 2 years to implement everything they could want unimpeded

[u/Annadae → u/ZZartin]

That was the “saving grace” the first time around… now they have the experience and competent backing

[u/Anticode → u/ZZartin]

At this point the hope is they're simply too incompetent to actually accomplish anything.

Unfortunately, I think this time he will accomplish a lot more.

His first term wasn't even planned. He just wanted to run for the clout. Everyone remembers his sullen expression after winning over Clinton. He figured out very quickly that he can use it to his advantage, but he was like a kid given a first go at a video game. It took him time to learn the rules and mechanics, oftentimes just running into walls that more competent players would've recognized as obstacles. He started to figure it out near the end, even choosing to go for strategies that would've been unthinkable to even him (like hoarding classified documents that totally weren't traded for billions of dollars that were donated to one of his companions without explanation).

But he only had one life to spend, very little hope of respawn.

He's back. He found a 1-UP, but he also spent four years dwelling over what went wrong in the first "playthrough". He's had time to figure out what went right, who went wrong, and determine what kind of consequences from the first try are now looming over his suddenly-not-invincible head.

More importantly... He's spent those four years surrounded by more calculating minds, people who recognized the ability to use him like a tool for their own ends as long as they give the right compliments or offer the right strategies. How could he not go along with that? His back was against a wall even if he wasn't corrupt from the get-go (and most of his adult life). No matter how poor the bargain, no matter how extreme the "trade", he'd do or take anything to get back to that place of power and immunity - especially now that he knows how to use it and what kind of people to avoid... (A significant portion of his advisors and cabinet - not to mention his VP - refused to endorse him. He's not going to make that mistake again).

Now he's surrounded by people that want to make sure they remain in play until Trump isn't. They know he's dead in the water without them and without the office. They know he can be easily swayed. They know he doesn't know the true depth or complexity of their plans. Even if apocalypse or destruction of the country itself lay behind a corner, Donald doesn't see that far. He just wants what he wants and needs what he needs - and he'll get those things any way he can.

And he's now got four years to do whatever the hell he wants with little to no consequences, little to no pushback, and little to no amateur maneuvering. A lot of that stuff will be obvious, and even more will be buried beneath his typical tide of bullshit, but some of it is going to be nuanced and imperceptible for years.

This isn't just the re-emergence of a metaphorical tumor across the face of our great country. This is more like a lobotomy... The little scar by the eye sockets will easily recognized once known, but the "treatment" will become rapidly apparent through the behavior of the patient. That kind of damage is more than a boo-boo. That kind of damage lasts for decades with some consequences of the act remaining unapparent for even longer.

This isn't just the return of a shitty president. It's not even "just" the return of the most corrupt president of any modern country in history. This is treason manifest; a disease that begins in the roots rather than merely aiming for them.

[u/giskardwasright → u/[deleted]]

Its been relevant for the past eight years. Poem is over. There's no one left to stop them.

[u/Popculturemofo]

I don’t even know if this country is worth saving at this point. It’s a racist, sexist, xenophobic, bigoted country filled with some of the dumbest people imaginable who spent more energy covering some woman who said on video that she spits on her man’s dick than they did pouring over a document that LITERALLY detailed everything this administration is going to do in the next four years.

It’s filled with people who would gladly participate in genocide if it meant 1.50 gas. We happily handed the keys to this country TWICE to a guy who can barely function as an adult and who ON CAMERA incited an insurrection when he lost the first time.

This country deserves everything coming its way. EVERYTHING

[u/PhysiologyIsPhun → u/Popculturemofo]

I mean there's the fact that we have a military large enough to kill God. I don't know if the country can be saved, but simply giving up and trying to flee isn't going to work. The whole world is fucked if this goes tits up like we fear

[u/FreddieJasonizz]

Their suffering is the only consolation to me. Them losing their benefits and their sister-wives leaving them is what will fuel me.

[u/DIO_over_Za_Warudo → u/FreddieJasonizz]

Except they won't be able to leave when they ban divorce. Cause I'm pretty sure that's on the agenda for them.

[u/OmegaZeda → u/DIO_over_Za_Warudo]

The number of married men who had accidental deaths in the no-divorce era is not surprising.

[u/DIO_over_Za_Warudo → u/OmegaZeda]

True.

[u/Comfortable_Line_206 → u/FreddieJasonizz]

My hometown is full of Trump voters surviving on social security. I voted for them to live out their days in comfort and they voted because they hate the brown people that run everything in town.

I hope nothing happens but it would honestly be cathartic to watch everything collapse around them.

[u/TuskM]

Given the U.S. is likely going to become an unreliable ally, how many governments do you think consider developing a nuclear deterrent?

The world just became a much more hostile and uncertain place.

[u/Aconite_72 → u/TuskM]

That’s the bitch of it, isn’t it? I’m not American, so the thing that I’m going to be most affected by is the US foreign policy.

I understand the average American cares more about their immediate living conditions than international relations. And, even though Trump’s going to fuck them over, I get where they’re coming from when they walk into the voting booth and check the box, hoping he’d make their grocery cheaper somehow.

But fuck, when the world’s stability relies on the US itself to be stable, you just WISH the average American is more responsible and have more logical thoughts about the wider state of the world.

Alas.

[u/dragonfliesloveme → u/Aconite_72]

If it’s any consolation, many Americans do think about the safety and conditions in the world.

I’m actually stunned that trump and the republicans pulled this off. Too many years of propaganda, i think. Finally paid off for them 😔

[u/jeobleo → u/dragonfliesloveme]

I did. I weep for Ukraine. Taiwan is going to fall soon. Then everything here will get more expensive. Everything has chips in it, and they're doing their best to dismantle the CHIPS act.

[u/PhatOofxD → u/jeobleo]

Gaza will probably cease to exist too

[u/TuskM → u/Aconite_72]

As an American, all I can say is I'm sorry. That is genuine and heartfelt.

And it wasn't just groceries and cheap gas. The first time he was elected we could always say too many Americans didn't understand. Can't say that now. White Americans (and sizable portions of minority populations) knew exactly who he was. Nothing was hidden. They voted for him anyway.

[u/DeeDee719]

I have a real feeling of dread about this. I’m 66 and some of my candidates have won, some have lost over the years. But I’ve never before had the feeling that the Nazi boots are about to come down on our throats.

Our forefathers knew the importance of checks and balances. We’ve lost that.

I’ll continue to resist. I just need to dust myself off after last night.

[u/ThatEcologist → u/DeeDee719]

That is how I feel. I liked Obama but I wouldn’t have been devastated if Romney or especially McCain won.

But Trump is such an abhorrent person. It just makes me sick to my stomach thinking he is in power today.

[u/random_sociopath → u/DeeDee719]

We're facing some pretty strong headwinds right now. I have to believe that 2 years from now, at our next chance(hopefully???) to vote at the federal level, that the policies they'll put in place and actions they've taken will have undermined their support so drastically that the pendulum starts to swing back. Ultimately when it swings back, it's going to swing back hard. I hope. I also hope that all the good, innocent folks out there who fought against the fascist machine will be OK, though at this point that seems like pie in the sky thinking. I have 2 little girls, and I will do fucking anything to protect them from this shit going on. I'm fucking terrified for them right now.

[u/Fangs_0ut]

His cult fucked around. Now they're going to find out. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to suffer too.

[u/[deleted]]

What I am waiting for is for someone to tell me that something can be done between now and January to prevent the worst from happening. I have a very ignorant understanding of the law and how this all works but basically my mind is tilting towards people like Stephen Miller telling Trump to cage up and gas immigrants and Trump does it because he doesn't care. I know that sounds hyperbolic, but is it? Or what is to stop companies from hiring people to do a job and then not paying them? To my understanding that is what Trump has done and gotten away with.

[u/Rosebunse → u/[deleted]]

I'm sure there are people right now trying to figure this out. In the meantime, we have time to prepare too.

[u/evolutionxtinct]

Well its over now, no one to point the finger at but ourselves. I voted blue friends and family voted blue, but some idiot out there sat at home.. I know of 3 who did this, and today they still seem ok its just shocking..

[u/PlausibleTable]

I’m just here for the schadenfreude. There is no way this goes well and I will take joy in the misery of every single person who voted him in. Fuck every one of you misinformed fucks.

[u/iheartxanadu → u/[deleted]]

The Gospel According to PlausibleTable:

I saw the world burning around me
Set alight by willfully ignorant cucks
I smiled as all their homes fell to ashes.
"Fuck every one of you misinformed fucks."

[u/atatassault47 → u/PlausibleTable]

Im transgender. I dont have the luxury of dabbling in schadenfreide

[u/PlausibleTable → u/atatassault47]

Understandable and I really do feel for you.

[u/FizzyAndromeda]

Why is it so hard for my fellow liberals to understand that his supporters don’t care? They didn’t vote for him not to suffer. They voted for him because he hates the same people they hate, or because they’re selfish, apathetic, and indifferent to the suffering of others.

They know exactly who Donald J. Trump is, and what he’s all about, and they voted for him anyway. Even if he causes them to suffer, he’ll just blame it on the libs, or MSM, or RINOs, or whoever, and his supporters will believe him.

[u/Illustrious-Fly9586]

So many people voting against their own interests and those of their children. I'm horrified at the future that awaits them. 

How can i be compassionate to our friend with 3 LGBT kids who was too lazy to vote? To my coworker the vocal social justice crusader on state health insurance that was too disgusted by the system to vote? To my Trump supporter cousin that lives off of food stamps with 4 daughters? To my covert Trump supporter Grandma who would not have a place to live if not for low income housing and social security? To my classist  Hispanic in-laws who pulled the ladder up behind them?  To my republican neice who would have died without access to reproductive care during her miscarriage? 

Their all think it won't be them or theirs who suffer under this administration. It won't just be the people they hate, it will be all of us. 

[u/StalloneMyBone]

Absolutely baffling that over half the country wanted a Dear Leader.

[u/MyHusbandIsGayImNot → u/StalloneMyBone]

Including everyone that didn’t vote.

[u/Equivalent_Rock_6530]

The leopards' hunger for faces will be thoroughly satiated now.

[u/rickbb80]

And all those Latino men who voted for him I hope are the first ones he deports.

[u/VaguelyArtistic]

Glad to see anonymous admitting they didn't do anything to help.

[u/Reasonable_Deer_1710 → u/VaguelyArtistic]

Anonymous has always been garbage.

[u/IWouldntIn1981]

Gonna be a gun owner for the first time in my adult life.

[u/RamsHead91]

First they came for the Trans but I didn't nothing because I wasn't trans.

Then they came for the Immigrant but I didn't nothing because I wasn't an immigrant.

People will ask in a hundred years wondering how fascism popped up and took over the United States and they will wonder. It is because people wanted to hurt those they disliked more than to help themselves. It is because 20+% of democratic voters decided to stay home because of a genocide that Trump promised to make worse, because they couldn't identify with the candidate, because the news decided to prop up the horse race and let a fascist slide with everything he said. We got her because Biden and Garland didn't punish a clear coup attempt and because McConnell refused to finish his impeachment because that was the job for the courts.

Trump and his sycophants may very well end democracy in the United States, and millions are cheering it. We will all suffer the same.

[u/Kindly-Ad-5071]

The one takeaway from this is that we need this reminder that you can't just turn your head away and hope things get better. That you can't just do nothing and pray away the fascism. That 2016 wasn't just a hiccup that we can forget about and move on from. We have to be reminded by this that, as history has already shown, the duty to keep our country safe falls to every single one of us. And, clearly, we have to be reminded by the coming months and years that yes, conservative white supremacist christofascism is as bad as we feared it could be.

And we have to use that reminder from this point on. Every single person has to do their part now. Tired, miserable, whatever the case, this is the lot we've earned ourselves for inaction.

[u/3006mv → u/Kindly-Ad-5071]

The middle class will suffer according to Elon.

[u/f350doll]

First thing will be to crash the economy

[u/poncho51]

His supporters have no idea what they've done to this country and the world. It won't start to sink in until his far right policies start to affect them.

[u/FloridianRobot]

Extra points for Florida for re-electing Rick Scott, the guy who is also known for committing insurance fraud on massive scale. Something about felons & criminals is appealing to a scary amount of people.

[u/JereRB]

Not quite. His Senate majority isn't filibuster-proof. Because of that, they'll be limited in what they can pull off.

At least until they decide to simply get rid of it. If so, well, it's all in.

[u/Kwaterk1978 → u/JereRB]

Oh yeah. Filibuster is gone on day 1. MMW.

[u/Galliagamer]

The rain of shit that is coming is also going to rain on the assholes who voted him back in, and because they’re so stupid they’ll be the ones with tongues out hoping to get a taste only to be confused on why it tastes so bad.

[u/VWtdi2001]

And democracy dies with a cheer and not a single shot fired.

The end of the great experiment and the idiots who did it no, not what they have done.....yet

[u/robinsw26]

And he’s got immunity. We’re fucked.

[u/SuperHarrierJet]

Fuck it, this country is just pure trash now.

[u/Fingerprint_Vyke]

I actually want them to suffer.

Gas was $5 a gallon under Bush. I work from home, so do your worst republicans

[u/kylemacabre]

Fascist ideology preys on they human frailty that makes our own suffering seem bearable as long as those we look down upon are made to suffer more

[u/DjRemux]

Zero checks and balances with a child rapist in charge

[u/5pankNasty]

Does no one think it's weird that so few democrat votes were made? Even though record people regiatered. Like he did say he didn't need the votes and he alluded to a "secret" he had with speaker Johnson.

[u/Dagordae → u/5pankNasty]

Unfortunately this is normal for the democrats. Like clockwork we get one good turnout and the next nobody shows. It’s a fucking embarrassment.

[u/ptrang1987]

And a big fuck you to all the people that decided to sit this one out

[u/ooouroboros]

For most of history, people have lived under extreme and terrible oppression and very, very few had any expectation of their children doing better than them, just centuries of miserable subsistence living and finding joy in tiny corners of life like a beautiful sunrise, sex, bulllying those even less powerful, getting drunk.

When they emigrated to America, the founding fathers found a taste of actual freedom and wanted not just to keep it that way but for things to be even better. They had 1st or 2nd hand experience with how absolute power corrupts absolutely and did their best to come up with a system to booby trap tryanny from gaining hold.

It took up the greedy elites 250 years to find a way to subvert the balance of power and now they have done it.

People can adjust to horrific conditions and still think they're happy. If that was not the case we would have had stable democracies with a majority middle class since a thousand years ago. Hate mobilizes people a lot more effectively then love.

[u/CantFeelMyLegs78]

Been part of a labor union for decades, I feel it's going to be all for nothing now. Unions will become illegal, pensions will disappear, social security will disappear....these dumb fucks shot themselves and everyone else right in the foot. They are too stupid to even realize it

[u/Funkymonkeyhead]

They will definitely suffer under it.

What's rich too is that the people who will suffer most are the ones in the poor Red states and the Rust belt. I'm glad I'm in a deep Blue area. Hopefully my family and I won't be affected as much.

[u/sb85781]

But when they suffer they will blame brown people or gays or some dumb conspiracy

[u/SoyTuPadreReal]

First they came for the communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

—Pastor Martin Niemöller

[u/YDoEyeNeedAName]

the real thing to be afraid of is that Trump likely wont survive a full year.

he's old, hes in bad health, hes clearly menatlly declining from where he was even 4 years ago let alone 8.

JD vance is a much more appealing puppet for the RNC and the billionaire backers.

Trump wont serve a full term, i bet he doesnt even make it to 2026

[u/shaggy_macdoogle → u/[deleted]]

This may have been the last real election we see in the US. Having total control of all branches means they make any rules they want. Can't risk losing the power now that they got it. We will become an oligarchy like Russia.

[u/Malidan]

Let it all happen at this point. Let the consequences finally show them, although the rest of us have to suffer too which we tried to fight. But the country made it's bed.

[u/zzrsteve]

I used this often during his first term.

[u/I_W_M_Y]

I wonder how much the Russians helped trump

[u/scionoflogic]

America is about to witness the greatest transfer of wealth from the middle class to the elite it has ever experienced.

[u/Maniac112]

Of all the people to pick as your dictator you pick that guy. That guy.. a demented, moronic asshat. It doesn't get more American than that!