It’s not alarmist: A second Trump term really is an extinction-level threat to democracy
www.vox.com
Why a second Trump term is a mortal threat to democracy — though perhaps not the way you think.
  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
    51·
    19 days ago

    Erdogan once said “democracy is a bus we ride until we reach our destination”. I feel major similar vibes from the GOP.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
    42·
    19 days ago

    I don’t know exactly how bad a second Trump term would be, but I’d really rather not find out. At best it will be embarrassing and absurd, at worst it would be devastating and catastrophic for countless millions, both inside and outside the US.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
    291·
    18 days ago

    Chomsky was right when he properly pointed out that Republicans are the biggest threat to the world.

    Donnie is merely a symptom. No Republicans ever should be allowed to hold any office.

  • tehn00bi@lemmy.world
    231·
    17 days ago

    I think he’s a symptom of a much larger disease. The people behind him, the evangelicals, non college educated whites, the climate change deniers, the industrialists who fight every regulation, the behind closed doors racists. These are the democracy extinction harbingers.

    • Random Dent@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1·
      16 days ago

      I’ve been saying for a while, George W. Bush is the one who took the door off its hinges and sold it, Trump is just the inevitable crackhead who walked in and started living in the kitchen.

  • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
    20·
    18 days ago

    For those who disagree, simply read about Spain, Italy, Germany, and Japan during the 1930’s. Furthermore, the Electoral College should be shut down.

    • Homescool@lemmy.world
      42·
      18 days ago

      I honestly don’t understand why we talk about eliminating the Electoral College when it literally requires some states to vote in favor of giving up their own power. In what economy of incentives is this even possible?

      • kerrigan778@lemmy.world
        3·
        18 days ago

        It doesn’t require the handful of swing states to be onboard. It just requires the heavy hitters which are largely marginalized by the electoral college and some of the smaller deep left or right states which are also made pretty irrelevant in terms of campaigning even if they get a bit more influence

      • Gammelfisch@lemmy.world
        1·
        17 days ago

        The politics in Germany better remain under control. If the fucking AfD took power, all of our neighbors, with exception the fucking Austrians and Swiss, would invade our asses.

        • Strider@lemmy.world
          2·
          17 days ago

          And still even there you can see the right in rise of power. But yes. Germany is under scrutiny.

          I just posted that as popular last words before things go sideways with a hint of sarcasm.

  • Sam_Bass@lemmy.world
    191·
    18 days ago

    speaker of the house is a devoutly religious buffoon. and he absolutely loves the angry orange. keep that in your thoughts over the next week.

  • newenlightened@lemmy.world
    171·
    18 days ago

    it’s an extinction level event for a lot of things. we’re already out of time on so many important issues. every living creature on this earth should consider him a threat. we are in self defense mode, or at least we should be. sadly, most of you don’t seem to understand how dire the situation really is.

    but whatever. stick your head back in the sand i guess.

      • Quadhammer@lemmy.world
        51·
        17 days ago

        Well start by voting. Vote local, vote often and make your voice heard. Then maybe try to reduce your carbon footprint. You really need a cultural shift for this to be effective. Yes yes I know businesses are the major polluters so I revert back to sentence one, vote, and continue to try to shift the culture to a more renewable one

        • Anti-Face Weapon@lemmy.world
          52·
          17 days ago

          Ok, I vote in every single election, including every primary. I drive seldom, use public transportation often, eat meat only twice a week, and encourage other people to adopt socially and environmentally forward beliefs.

          Do you really think this is enough? I don’t, but there is only so much one person can do.

      • JesseoftheNorth@lemmy.world
        3·
        17 days ago

        Are you ready to take the fight to the streets? Because that’s likely what it’ll come down to. Voting won’t save you. The constitution is only a flimsy piece of paper. Start organizing now.

  • TrumpIsNotARepublican@lemmy.world
    15·
    17 days ago

    I made these pictures because I don’t think that arguments like “Trump is a threat to democracy” are something his supporters agree with. Maybe people could share these things in groups they know in these last couple days before the election.

  • selokichtli@lemmy.ml
    141·
    18 days ago

    I’d argue here that right next to Trump, it is the electoral college. But, as Americans can’t do anything to change their electoral system, they are probably already owned. If it isn’t Trump, it will be another Trump-like candidate, whether Republican or Democrat.

  • LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
    9·
    17 days ago

    The civil servant job thing is an insurance plan disguised as job security. It would enable Trump to fill the bureaucracy with loyal stooges who will keep doing his bidding during the next administration - like his House cronies did when he told them not to pass the bipartisan border security bill so he could use the border as his main campaign issue.

    • andros_rex@lemmy.world
      4·
      17 days ago

      His appointees from the last go round are already still fucking things up. If you’ve tried to interact with the legal system or any regulatory agency, there basically is none. For everything from DHS to FOIA, the government is and has not functioning in many southern states.

    • FatCrab@lemmy.one
      6·
      18 days ago

      If he loses, I think we see the fractures in the republican party really start to cascade even more than they have since the last election. It’ll still be a stewpot of regressive, reactionary, fascist fellating bullshit, but their goose stepping will be out of sync.

      Meanwhile, a collapse of the Republican part opens the door for a likewise restructuring of the Democratic party, which has for decades now been a big tent party for people who aren’t braindead, but is otherwise pretty ideideologically disparate. And before you wah wah wah FPTP, keep in mind that all RCV initiatives in the US have arisen out of Democratic party affiliated groups.

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        31·
        18 days ago

        That didn’t happen last time. Instead, everyone tried to become the new Trump and take up the mantle. They failed because the real Trump was still running, but without him they’ll be able to adapt.

        Although they’ll struggle to draw in voters the way Trump does. People like Trump because he’s an “outsider”. A new outsider can totally emerge to take up the mantle once Trump is not sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

        Or who knows. Maybe once Trump is defeated everything will go back to normal. 👍

    • barsquid@lemmy.world
      31·
      18 days ago

      Oh here campaigning for Repubs all the way to the end, huh? “Both sides are colluding, Dems don’t reverse Repub policies! Therefore give up and allow as many Repub policies as we can.”

      • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
        41·
        18 days ago

        How did you read any of that from my comment?

        I’m just pointing out that fascism doesn’t go away just because Trump is gone.

        • barsquid@lemmy.world
          1·
          18 days ago

          I’ve seen a lot of comments about the Dems deliberately colluding with Repubs to continue deeper into fascism and assumed yours was one of those.

  • BMTea@lemmy.world
    77·
    18 days ago

    There is actually little daylight between Biden and Trump on an international level. The real difference is between the parties. If you’re American I can 100% understand why you’d never want the GOP anywhere near education, healthcare, climate policy etc. Their religious zealotry, genocidal inclinations towards Muslims (which is present but far more muted among Dems), racial antipathy and paranoia of black people and anti-intellectualism are a recipe for national decline and unrestrained global abuse of non-white, non-Christian peoples.

    The Democrats have a neoconservative problem which also threatens the entire world. But sadly the responsible and sensible side of America is stuck with them.

    • Tyrangle@lemmy.world
      3·
      17 days ago

      Isn’t Trump like super isolationist? Ask a Ukrainian who they prefer to win and I think they’ll have a pretty consistent answer.

      • BMTea@lemmy.world
        12·
        17 days ago

        To claim Trump is “isolationist” in 2016 is one. To claim it in 2024 is simply denying the facts. Trump was and remains not that much different to Biden on international policy. The key difference is diplomacy. Trump fails at diplomacy while keeping within many of the same policies.

        There is a reason that Biden foreign policy has doubled down or refused to undo Trump era policies that Democrats considered to be mistakes, like leaving the JCPOA, playing around with Taiwan ambiguities, enabling Israeli liquidation of a nascent Palestinian state, etc.

        • Tyrangle@lemmy.world
          21·
          17 days ago

          I get the impression that Harris plans to drag out the war in Ukraine with continued US support while Trump plans to end it quickly by withholding support. That’s a consequential difference as far as I’m concerned. If Trump were in charge now I expect we’d already be at war with Iran. Remember when he had Soleimani killed in 2020? I don’t think he’d be nearly as reluctant about supporting Israel if he were in charge. I agree that Taiwan is a powder keg, but I’m not sure what we should be doing differently there - curious what you’re getting at there.

          • BMTea@lemmy.world
            1·
            16 days ago

            I do remember 2020 and 2021, and I was in fact in the Gulf at the time and talked to people with knowledge of back-channel negotiations between the US and Iran. The only difference between the Suleimani situation and today is that the Biden admin supports Israel’s assassinations rather than carrying them out directly. But no one is fooled here - we know they are equal part American assassinations. This “assassination as coercive diplomacy” shit didn’t work for Trump, who was pushed by the belligerent, compromised, Israel/Saudi bought GOP fanatics to ditch the JCPOA and go for violence.

            Do you know what the goal of those back channel negotiations was, by the way? The US was demanding that Iran reduce it’s self-imposed 2000 kilometer missile distance limit to be far shorter so that it couldn’t strike Israel.

            Well here we are in 2024, with a Biden administration that has gotten use to a point where Iran and Israel are striking each other’s military bases directly. Everyone you talk to in Kuwait City, Istanbul, Manama, Doha and so on will tell you that Iran would be absolutely insane not to prioritize nuclear armament, and some suspect that they may already have some nukes stowed deep.

            The Gaza genocide and its regional implications have been a bigger policy failure than anything Trump did.

    • draneceusrex@lemmy.world
      52·
      18 days ago

      Does the Dems have an issue with Neocons? I can agree with that.

      But I prefer the side that at least supports NATO and our allies. I prefer the side that at least doesn’t lavish praise to dictators on a regular basis.

      Say what you want about Neocons, it is telling when we have Dick Cheney and John Bolton saying that Trump is dangerous. I will hold my nose and thank them for helping to get Harris elected to preserve the democracy we have.

      Sorry, no, there is a huge difference between MAGA Republicans and the Dems (and Neocons) on foreign policy.