The most frustrating thing about the last 6 months is just how much my colleagues and fellow students at Harvard have consistently underestimated the threat Trump posed. I was told I was overreacting and things won't be that bad. And yet, it is and it can still get so much worse.
I have been screaming at the top of my lungs “ Hell No!” I did my thesis on Nazi Germany. Trump has followed the playbook religiously. We are so screwed. Trans people are about to get the choice of detransition,flee the country or kill yourself. I can’t detrans. It’s physically impossible.
People that have turned off instinct will always have a leopard eating their face. Similar to Critical Thinking, Listening to your "gut" seems to be on mute for at least 33% of the Country.
Reason number 7361845 why New England should be their own independent country
I get told that all the time - the overreacting. I called roe v wade back in 2016, and I was told that I was being paranoid by fellow liberals. Here we are!
Americans should look deeper at their own history to understand why this happened, because it was bound to happen. Ask Brazilian or Argentinians, they will tell you how much all of this is unsurprising. Fascism and racism is deeply rooted in the US and always has been.
Stay strong. F*ck the melon felon.
I thought they were supposed to be smart? I always forget that smart and wise are two totally different things.
And common sense is NOT very common any longer
Tomatoes in the fruit salad again.
This Trump crowd are neither smart nor wise.
There is no limit to how bad it can get. Think Auschwitz. Think worse. I desperately hope this time it won’t get that far — except this time we willingly handed control of the most destructive military and economy in human history to one of the most destructive humans in human history.
I suspect Trump will be American Pol Pot.
He certainly could be, if he decides it’s in his interest. Unless we’re able to peacefully, nonviolently stop him in his tracks.
Pol Pot was not stopped peacefully. He bombed Vietnam and then was overthrown by the Vietnamese military.
It’s frustrating being told you’re overreacting when we’ve been right about him/republicans all the god damn always!!!!
It will get worse! There is no bottom to the cruelty malignant fascist & felon Donald Trump inflicts on others. Republican SCOTUS Justices & MAGA Republicans in Congress magnify Trump's brutality & they assist Trump with the damage Trump & they intend. Sick MF'ers. All of them!
Normalcy bias is a hell of a thing. People really think it can't happen here as it's happening here. People bargain against reality in a collective delusion to avoid acknowledging how bad things are.
Second time this morning I've posted the danger of normalcy. "When we excavate the remains of past civilizations, we rarely find any evidence that they made any attempts to adapt in the face of a changing climate. ...inflexibility as the real reason for collapse." climate.nasa.gov/news/1010/cl...
The inherently American "stay positive" mindset is biting us in the ass
Covid counscious/aware people could tell you a lot about that...
Everyone thinks fascism will just pop in and there will be evil flag everywhere. They don't understand the reality of it. All the little steps that add up to it.
It *will* get so much worse, the US is on a steep slippery slope. Witness only its treachery vis-à-vis Ukraine, where is now effectively helping the Rascists and is quite likely soon going to support them actively. Sadistic & dumb psychopaths in the Shite House & Kremlin are set to start WWIII.
Some days I feel like I’m going batshit. How anyone can go to work, for example, like what’s happening around here is *normal*, and create that all-important shareholder value is beyond me.
The awful Nonprofit Killer Provision has been put BACK into the Spending Bill after temporary removal! bsky.app/profile/capt...
People really want to soak up every ounce of remaining normalcy until it’s gone rather than fight because they don’t want to grapple with reality. Easier to live in denial than confront the actions necessary to fight fascism for a country that has never had to engage in & like collective action
to quote the Dead Kennedys' California Uber Alles: "You close your eyes, 'can't happen here!' Big Bro on White Horse is near 'The hippies won't come back,' you say Mellow out or you will pay... MELLOW OUT OR YOU WILL PAY" songs 40 years ago predicted this shit and it's so fucking sad.
There are many explanations for this. Denial and bargaining against the reality is their psychological defense mechanisms to protect themselves from whatever their brain finds necessary for their survival. Others could be delusional and completely detached from reality. Or, they’re minimizing things
As a means of avoidance bc minimizing is more palatable and acceptable to the status quo. If they outright admit their support for this regime, they know the risks are far greater than the benefits. If you read between the lines, you’ll see their true colors. It’s infuriating & invalidating…
Like you said it's a lazy person's defense mechanic. It's doing "something" without doing anything at all but just ignoring your fat basketball sized tumor on your neck. Just ignore it. It will be fine
It's not "lazy person's defense mechanic", it's a trauma response. 🤷 I was a teen during the last decade of Apartheid, & it took the trauma experienced by my teens during COVID, to recognise the dissociation, & denial of reality that I & others around me used to survive. 🤷
If you have no agency to make change (Living somewhere that is a very "Red" state or just trying to survive on a minimal income), dissociation is a survival response. 🤷
I never said this. If you have a brain, you have defense mechanisms. These defense mechanisms are not unique to humans. They serve a purpose and are critical to survival. I never said anything about a basketball sized tumor on mine or anyone else’s neck, either.
I will never know why or how you came to summarize my post in such a peculiar manner but that is your stuff to figure out. Not me.
And the blatant disregard for humanity is gut wrenching. But, are the mental gymnastics worth your time and energy? In my experience as an over-reactor, it is not. I’ve read On Tyranny and am currently reading the shock doctrine to gain knowledge about what I can do to fight for democracy & learn
How to resist the proverbial electroshock therapy that seeks to regress, destroy, divide, and eliminate opposition or force opposition into submission until they no longer have a voice. This is what the regime is trying to do but fuvk them. My perpetual overreactions are my lifeline bc I’m not
Going to stop fighting for democracy, freedom, liberty, and rights. Anyone who doesn’t like this can kick rocks.
So much this. They still dismiss it. “Courts will stop this” response to everything
Everyone is under reacting and it’s making me like I took all the crazy pills.
They’re buying the lies that everything will be ok - sold to them straight from the top.
Even worse is the feeling of “God I hate being right” because no fun at all to be right about Armageddon
I can hear your pain. I'm so sorry. I hope Canada can be a refuse, I wish I could help.
Canada needs to start granting Trans people asylum before they start killing us.
It’s scary I know.
Every time I read “Is America shifting toward authoritarianism?” I have to force myself not to microwave my own head..
it's hard being right all the time. i'm not sure we can ride this one out.
He's doing everything he said he would send doing it how he said he'd do it 🤷♀️
Democrats all over the country are in denial. I know this because we haven't started fighting for our lives yet.
I know this is a very open ended question, but what would us fighting for our lives look like?
Organized rebellion against Republicans. Democrats forming an opposition government and militia. Laying claim to the US Constitution, federal institutions, and the United States military
Oh. That sounds like what the Trump administration itself is doing, and also starting a civil war.
Yes. Trump has created an autocratic fascist government, and your choices are submission or revolution. Democrats have universally chosen to submit.
There are alot more choices than that. Yes, assuming Trump lives until 2028, he won't willingly leave office, but there are ways to convince (for lack of a better word) him to not want to stay in power. Also, you absolutely can resist fascist regimes without resorting to literal war.
You can't. And all these peaceful protests have accomplished nothing. And there are 78 million Donald Trumps in America. They're in our neighborhoods, our schools, in churches and hospitals. They are ubiquitous and they'll unalive us as soon as Trump asks them too.
78 million Donald Trumps? Donald Trump's the guy who used to literally live an a golden tower with his name emblazoned on it. And no - the fascist momentum has been slowed down because of non-violent action.
It hasn't been slowed or dulled. Nothing is stopping or changed. The courts can't even keep up. There's no rule of law, no certain constitutional protections, and the fascists are getting 95% of everything they ask for. You're going to what? Keep associating with these people? Not me.
Im changing my reply since I didnt fully read your post. The difference between 95% and 100% matters. Do you care about the deportations that've been stopped? Or the federal workers who were fired by doge, but got their jobs back? I could keep going, but I'll just ask why do you want blood so much?
I feel this. You’re not alone & sucks to be right sometimes. I’m glad you’re at Harvard though. Because we (us that are not at Harvard - not by a long shot) need you.
the warning signs were all there and most americans, including many in influential positions did nothing at best and actively supported it at worst.
Stand up and stop waiting for someone else to solve him.
I predicted in Trump's first term that we'd be living in a dictatorship fascist regime within 10 years. When he lost in 2020, i knew it wasn't over. The writing has been on the wall for a long time. Billionaire have bought the government they want. The 1 that works for THEM.
100%
They will not obey the next vote….Jan.6th he was on his backfoot…this time? Martial law before the next election…
Constructive to put your energy into working out a replacement constitution so such a moron is never given such power or that a felon is eligible for election. Maybe too something on how a republic of equal citizens should be organised?
And of course how to reduce the cunt and his minions.
Remember revenge is a dish best served cold and even the mightiest can be brought down by gnats. Everything around him and their corrupt fortunes must be laid waste, from judicial appointments to crypto$ to govt contracts to a constitutional order that tolerated such a degenerate.
It’s frustrating that people are still doing it at each and every step toward hell we take.
youtu.be/KnngKRfakUc?...
It sounds like Harvard doesn’t realize that it faces an existential threat. The white supremacist Christian Nationalists believe all education is ideological and that you are a Satanic enemy. They believe God wants them to dominate education. You’re the top of the mountain. Prepare for a siege.
Road to fascism is paved with people telling you to 'stop overreacting' unfortunately. Sadly it will take a massive splash of reality in their faces when it *truly* impacts them outright.
The other issue is that when other countries fall to authoritarian rule, it's treated kind of as a "Well they 'deserved' to fall." That 'those people' are just inclined to have fascistic leaders, unlike us pure, *superior* Western countries. When the reality is we were always the most primed for em.
And also by extension ignoring the fact that the USA has been the one propping up many dictatorships the world over for decades. Almost every RW-shithole country is ruled by some asshole installed by the USA because they'd sell their nations out to our corporations every time.
US Segregation being Hitler’s prime inspiration for how he legally removed human rights from Jews & other demographics, should have woken up the US, yet they still made “informative reels” to explain to US soldiers off to fight fascism… 1/
…that (contrary to the US!) Europe did NOT segregate between black & white soldiers, and that this might feel “odd”. I wish I could retrieve it somewhere, as it shows the typical US exceptionalist thinking and its obliviousness towards its own hupocrisy, in full light. 2/
I feel we, as humanity, never learn. (Re: Israel repeating the genocidal horrors Jews faced, killing innocent Palestinians for NOT being Jewish, or even Germany, standing by Israel despite their own role in WW2) 😔 3/3
The Chicago school of economics. Ohh my. I’m still trying to process this.
Exactly. Look at Hitler's details. It is tRumpf's playbook
Thanks for the 'beat on the victims', smug I told you so comment.
Fun fact: the victims aren't the ones being told "I told you so," because the victims already knew. The ones getting an "I told you so" are the ones who are STILL saying "stop overreacting" because they're pretty sure it will never happen to them.
They have conditioned us to not believe the reality of their decisions because so few of them have had direct impacts on the population as a whole. Life goes on. The only impact most notice is rising prices. And this is due to the shrinking of social circles. Neighbors rarely speak with each other.
Good god get over yourself. You arent the only person feeling this way.
What they probably meant, and what most people mean when they equivocate with, "it won't be that bad" is that it won't be that bad for them personally. Human beings are inherently self-serving so, as long as they think it won't affect them directly, then it really won't be that bad.
Or they overestimated the intelligence of the voting population. I know I’m astounded at the American stupidity.
Have been calling Trump a fascist since day one, cuz I actually listened to his words, and knew he would need to become a dictator to stay out of prison. And got shushed daily by “liberals” whose arguments were tantamount to “it’s only called fascism if it’s from the fascism region of France” 1/
It’s the “moderates” claiming “it could never happen here” who are to blame. Wish I had misjudged this. 2/2
We are only 4 months in. A holocaust is like 100% going to happen here.
I agree. He's already disappearing people and getting away with it. Now that he knows he's getting away with it he'll ramp things up. News flash: It won't take much for him to get the voting stats. What better way to stay in power than steadily vanishing all blue voters?
I don’t think anyone seems to be over-reacting. It’s seems to many are under-reacting …. Sometimes I look at people going about ygeir daily lives (apparently) and wonder why we are not all running around in crisis mode.
Have you try explaining what happening? Many in the media are not reporting what is going on.
I'm sorry they weren't listening to you.
I’ve been told that I’ve overreacted since 2016. I’m still overreacting. It’s not that bad, i just need to be open minded. If I just look at his policies and accept that he’s a terrible politician but an excellent businessman, maybe I could learn a thing or two. But, I’m just so rigid with my…
If making me the scapegoat, spewing total nonsense, and frantic and repeated attempts to damage or delude my credibility through logical fallacies is how we arrive at the we’re just going to have to agree to disagree destination, then so be it. These people have no purpose, place, significance..
Or relevance in my life. Every agree to disagree conversation I’ve ever had with someone is oftentimes the last or second to last conversation I’ll ever have with that person. They don’t go quietly but that’s a whole other issue.
Opinions and beliefs. I’m also a hypocrite bc I tell others to keep an open mind when I’m unwilling to do the same. Close minded people like me are the reason we can’t have civil discourse about politics. If only I understood that facts don’t care about feelings. I should also be more optimistic.
Oftentimes people who tell me all the ways I’m overreacting are the ones who eat crow. So anyway, people are in denial or they are closeted Trump supporters. There is nothing anyone can do to change their minds about this regime. Channel your productive energy and passion to fight for democracy…
Into a cause that aligns with your values and beliefs to move forward and fight against the authoritarian regime. That’s what you, me, and other overreacting folks can realistically control if we want to see the changes we relentlessly long for.
“Excellent businessman???” Really?! 🤡 If by excellent, you mean he bankrupted several businesses and defrauded many with sham businesses… sure… “excellent…”
I’ve heard many people say that in real life and on the internet. It’s total foolishness. But then, we just have to agree to disagree because ✨I✨ am unwilling to keep an open mind when it comes to the 🍊🤡
Those folks who said you were overreacting were just like this guy (below)! 🦋💙
I think all our institutions were captured by the Privileged, and used to keep the rest of us Down, since decades ago. This is just the Privileged catching up with everything they have been given for nothing. The University System is as culpable as anyone.
They need to file suit and stand up. He’s testing how far he can go.
He knows how far he can go - the sky's the limit. His regime has managed to take over America. It's done. Courts aren't going to oust him in my humble opinion.
The court are stopping Many of his stuff but there has been some setbacks with the USSC, everyone should still vote in the midterms.
I completely agree! But they cannot be relied upon. More is needed...much more.
More is standing up to bullying. Giving in teaches him how far he can go. This is a dominance test, not a loyalty test.
The courts are "stopping" his stuff only in the sense of one yelling after someone "Stop! Hey, I said stop! Wait, didn't you hear me? I said stop!"
When you are dealing with a narcissist, who has dementia, yup - it can go horrible really quickly 😞
Trump Regime is operating a non-stop evil steam locomotive.
If we have learned nothing else, it’s that Trump’s lack of a moral compass lends itself to a new low every single day.