responsive to Trump--more accommodating--is that everyone, from corporate CEOs to news organizations take his threats far more seriously and are genuinely frightened of the consequences of standing up to him. I do not believe for a second it is because more people like or agree with him.

It has taken us a long time to reach this point. There are books and all sorts of theories, and people a lot smarter than I am can probably pinpoint this or that particular year. But we allowed the GOP to buy up radio stations and news papers and turn them into junky propaganda vehicles. I am genuinely enraged about that. We sat and watched it happen. We had no defense, no response. It destroyed AM radio. In the 1990s I watched as my employer's wife's brain turned to mush as she became a Rush Limbaugh fanatic.

Then there was the Citizen's United decision that made it possible to buy a democracy.

But I share your dismay. By early 2021 I had concluded that no matter who won in 2024 we were losing our democracy at the state level, and then SCOTUS pulled out a samurai sword and delivered the coup de grace.

Chances are, he won't live to fill out the term.

He looks like death on a crutch now. I'm surprised a corpuscle can get through his arteries.

Vance is a nobody. He'd finish out the term, but we should have a D Congress in 2026 and would rein in the assholes.

...and it will be more and more and difficult to eradicate his poison from society as each day passes.

But those are cowardly morons.

in 2026).

I am usually very accurate with my Senate picks. IF Casey (PA) had won in 2024, I would have called every single race correctly.

Even if we sweep the 6 remotely close races in 2026 (plus win a potential wild card loss tossed in, in VA, see below), we would only get to 50-50 (and thus Vance breaks ties)

In terms of Rethugs at risk in 2026 (potentially 3):

NC (Tillis is by far our best chance to flip a seat Red to Blue, unless Collins retires in ME. Roy Cooper hopefully runs. Jeff Jackson also may run, but he just was elected NC AG. US ex US House Representative (he retired this year as he knew he would lose his redistricted seat) Wiley Nickel will likely run, but he was one of the most conservative Dems in the House, and would be the most conservative Dem US Senator unless Golden of ME (see below) runs and wins. That said, obviously Nickel would be FAR better than any Rethug.)

ME (IF Collins retires, we very likely flip it, but if she runs, we will have a real dog fight on our hands. We have a real problem in ME with turncoat Dem voters defecting and voting for the POS Collins, she has brainwashed far too many of them into thinking she is true moderate. Stephen King was by far our best shot in 2020, but I doubt he runs. He refused to run in 2020, and in 2027 he turns 80yo. ME Governor Janet Mills also turns 80 in 2027. Chellie Pingree turns 72 in 2027, and she was beaten badly by Collins the last time she ran against her. Our best 2 candiates are probably the recently term limited ME State Senate leader Troy Jackson, but he may run for Governor to replace Mills, and then Jared Golden. That said, IF Golden wins, he very likely becomes the most conservative Democratric US Senator. Golden, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of WA, plus Henry Cuellar of TX (in deep legal trouble atm) are the 3 most conservative US House Dems left, even more than Suozzi from NY. That said, Golden of course would be better than Collins or any other Rethug).

KY (McTurtle is very very likely done and dusted, and Andy Beshear is by far our best hope, BUT KY (like several other Red states) is so hard to get a Dem Senator elected in. Even popular Dem Governors (like Beshear) struggle to make the leap, plus Beshear has said he does not want to run for the US Seante in 2026) Beshear is, unfortunately, the only KY Dem who would have a real shot.

We have 3 seats at risk, and one wild card, in 2026:

GA Jon Ossoff

MI Gary Peters

NH Jeanne Shaheen

VA (wild card...... IF Mark Warner retires and Youngkin runs)



In 2028 the Rethugs only have 2 seats at actual risk (one more than the other)

WI Ron Johnson (the most likely for us to flip)

NC Ted Budd (but he is far more popular than Tillis)

I simply do not see us having real shots at flipping a Senate seat in Red FL or Red OH.

We have to defend 5 seats that are at risk in 2028:

AZ Mark Kelly

GA Raphael Warnock

PA John Fetterman

NV Catherine Cortez Masto

NH Maggie Hassan

Creating a OP with this information for future reference? Maybe in the Congress Group?

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1104

❤️

If he gets in the Oval Office, we will be a theocracy before six months pass. Or, we will be in a major internal conflict. One of the two.

Laugh if you want.

The evangelicals are loud, but there are not that many of them compared to other groups (religious and non-religious).

Anyone.

I also wouldn't count on anything resembling free elections in future years.

There is no "easy" shoe-in.

I don't know how smart he is, but he is ruthless. I'm willing to put a small wager he hopes T**** keels over, from what I've seen, he's as amoral as his master.

You're not. Take that as a win.

It's just that a lot of people are afraid of him so they pretend to accept him. But it is pretending only.

It is not just us. People are fighting in many countries in the west.

It helps to stay informed about the countries that are succeeding in defense of freedom and democracy. We have allies. We are not alone.

The LA fires, horrible as they are , can be a turning point. It is time to start making demands.

and voted for the leader of the rats. The people are stupid and brainwashed.

They are a clearly defined threat to my well-being and shall be treated as such.

"killed on sight" was a part of the equation.

I believe in doing things in a non-violent way. Exposing the morons at every turn should be the Resitance.
Hammer home the lies and obfuscations at every opportunity, and there are plenty of them.

(unless they start shit with me first)

I'm saying that Trumpers are beyond any sort of redemption. They are not serious people who can be talked to or reasoned with because the very concept of reason is an anathema to Trumpism. These are not the "wayward, misguided sons" that Ulysses Grant called the Confederate Army during their surrender... They are not American in any sense of the word. The founding fathers would have them all hanged for treason. There is no conscience or humanity inside them to appeal to. There's not going to be some magical Hollywood moment where the GOP finally regains their sanity and learn how to govern like grown ass folks instead of juvenile delinquents. Trumpers and Trumpism will be the end of everything the civilized free world holds dear unless we ACT and do what must be done...

Have a great day.

You are free. Just because he used "vermin" doesn't mean you aren't free to use "vermin". You are both free to use the word "vermin".

You are free to complain about maga dehumanizing people while you dehumanize them with your vocabulary.

Every time you use the word "vermin", you will ask yourself "am I dehumanizing the right people,?" and "are there any other dehumanizing words I can use like cockroaches"? I'm sure you can find more words, and each time you find one you can add it to your list and each time you use it you can proclaim to yourself triumphantly "I'm not letting progressives control my vocabulary!"

Because you are free.

…capitalism and it’s inherent corruption. Nothing but.

My daughter ( a DC attorney and a single lady of a certain age ) has raised millions for Obama, Clinton, Biden, and Harris. She was crushed and now is preparing to move to England with her firm.

Wife and I are in our 80’s, I’m pretty much 25/7 caregiver. We are Southerners, born and reared in Alabama and Mississippi of the 1950’s and ‘60’s. We were convinced that the US was filled with good people, committed to equal rights and justice. We have watched with great sadness to watch the same stuff we matched against in Birmingham and Montgomery now taking over the nation.

We have told family members on both sides to have nothing more to do with us, cut them off, because we do not wish to associate with ignorant, racist, bible-thumping Southern hill country rednecks.

We live in a rural Virginia county that goes 70% for Trump. I have had pistols pulled on me because of the Democratic bumper stickers on my truck. I just added a “Fuck Trump” bumper sticker - - and added an AR15 to the pistol I carry in the truck.

For all the darkness, we have high hopes for 2026.

...in what could well become a regional civil conflict, if not a civil war. Personally, I wouldn't be hanging around that part of rural Virginia any longer than I had to. You are a lot braver than I am.

We have about a week of peace to go, and I'm thinking "Fuck, we're really about to do this all over again?"

It doesn't sound particularly safe where you are now.

I've been debating back and forth with myself over buying some guns for the first time in my life... If Trumpers are trying to fuck around in my Commonwealth, my decision has been swayed

His chief of staff was the CEO of Merrill Lynch.
Then Murdoch got normalized. Bush vs Gore. Citizens United. Money interests took over and they don't plan on giving any of it back.

blame republicans. it's been their plan since Karl Rove at least. blame corporate, for profit media: it ceased to serve its purpose and served the gawd of capitalism instead.

Just don't give up whatever you do. #BeTheOpposition

I get tired and angry at the way Democrats turn the multiple failures, of the press, the courts, and most of all republicans, on themselves. We fought the good fight and we must continue to do so.

I'm calmer now. Right after the election, when my old boss, who is a friend, started in about what we should have done instead of what we did, I yelled at her.

This to me is the hard part: try not to worry too much about what is going to happen. We actually don't know until we get there. Do not capitulate, do not give up.

They normalized and sane washed him for so long that win he did win because so many people chose to stay home, it seemed acceptable to just shrug your shoulders and say ok for a lot of people. Doesn’t mean we who know and have always known who and what he is have to buy into it, it’s just where we are at the moment. The tide rises and falls though is what I keep telling myself to keep going.

It is evil people trying to destroy Democracy & not just here. I also blame social media for America's woes. I know many people here think social media has been the best thing since sliced bread. oh, remember I said this "The majority of the American electorate is ignorant."

No, you are not a failure. The dumb fucks I mentioned above are.

Go in peace and never lose HOPE.

only 50 % of registered voters participated in this election, rest 50%s attitude is don't care, lazy or want to cause chaos. of the 50%, more than 50 % ( ie. only 25%, 50% of 50%) are idiots, watch only parroted info not have their own logical thinking voted for the criminal.
can you imagine 25 % of registered voters deciding fate of this great country and democracy we stand for. This is a big disgrace to this country and there is no moral leadership at political or corporate level . This is all GREEDINESS, pure and simple. God save us from disaster.

And I am being nice in just calling them failures.

But the world doesn't stop turning.

while their side evidently didn't.

It's always ultimately about competing narratives.

And of course he had help from Putin's propaganda machine as well as the effects of Elon's purchase of Twitter.

I don't know anything about Twitter. I barely use Facebook. The Internet was supposed to be this wonderful thing and yet it has produced a monster of a president about to abuse us for another term or maybe more (the Constitution be damned). I feel old and depressed about the USA tonight...

Besides heavy tariffs and mass deportations...

"Narrative" and "vibes" are just euphemisms for "We know this fuckwit isn't qualified to be a professional pencil sharpener, but we need to justify our inexplicable decision to vote for him..."

Far as I'm concerned, it's the rest of America that should be feeling like a failure...

But I have no idea how or why things got so fucked up, or what the best course of action is to unfuck them. 😔

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/polarized-america-41-americans-have-favorable-view-trump-reutersipsos-poll-finds-2024-12-17/

In polarized America, 41% of Americans have favorable view of Trump, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds

WASHINGTON, Dec 17 (Reuters) - About two in five Americans view U.S. President-elect Donald Trump favorably, fewer than when the Republican was on the cusp of his first presidential term, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.

Some 41% of respondents in the three-day poll, which closed on Sunday, said they viewed Trump favorably, while 55% viewed him unfavorably as his Jan. 20 inauguration approached.

That was down from Trump's 51% favorability rating in December 2016 after his stunning victory in that year's election, even though for months he had garnered ratings around 40%. The post-election boost carried into the initial months of his 2017-2021 term.

The absence of a bounce this year - his favorability ratings have hovered around 40% in recent months - could be a sign of deepening political polarization between Republicans and Democrats. In December 2016, about a quarter of Democrats viewed Trump favorably. This month, only about one in 10 did so.

(snip)

https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approval/donald-trump/issues/transition

I was responding to this statement in the OP:

"Trump's support has only gone up since 2016. He is more popular and more acceptable now than he has ever been before,"

At least according to IPSOS polling, that statement isn't close to being true.

Beyond that, while Trump's transition approval may be barely above 50%, It's not remotely close to the approval of the transitions of his predecessors:

Biden: 68%
Obama: 83%
W.Bush: 61%
Clinton: 68%

https://news.gallup.com/poll/654698/trump-transition-ratings-better-second-time-around.aspx

But, like the general theme from the OP, it's up from his last transition. If anything, his transition approval should be lower than 2016.

and protests are not helping as it's easy to infiltrate and the negative things are replayed and hurt us even when the protestors don't even support democrats.

It's also an easy way to make money if you promote right wing views since the right wing tends to spend all day to people they agree with.

Liberal leaning types might watch sometimes but not nearly as many will spend as much time watching as the right wing does.

You stood up for what is right. In addition, don’t forget that he won in the first place in 2016- that should never have happened and that’s on the crazy people in this country.

Without no counter-propaganda channel and with the rest of the media accepting a blatant propaganda machine to dominate the national discourse, fascism was probably inevitable.

It was always just a matter of when and who.

We can always think of ways we could have won this election or that battle or whatever, but that would have probably just pushed back the inevitable.

Republicans spent trillions over half a century making this moment happen. They would bound to get it eventually. We probably should be happy we were able to delay it as long as we did.

Next, I blame the users of social media who are too lazy to verify their "source." You just have to figure that we know what's coming and can try to prepare ourselves. They don't. There are going to be a whole lot of people turning on Trump very, very soon when their world goes from bad to much, much worse.