Hi, @demsrock2024.bsky.social. This is an FYI, and does not require any flavor of response. I very much dislike the Republican Party, and many of its members. And, this kind of language gets us into tricky territory, as it is dehumanizing. I don't mean that in a flowery way...

... I mean it in the "paves the way for exceptionally bad outcomes" way. Say that you hate them. Say that you won't rest until their power to harm us is destroyed. The trick is to keep the comparisons in the human realm; dehumanizing language is the precursor to lots of war crimes.

we certainly wouldn't want the people eagerly pursuing the 4th Reich in word and deed to end up in a ditch like their predecessors would we

Shoot, I should clarify! While calls for violence (not what you're doing, but it reminded me) aren't legal, that's not what my posts were intended to address. It's very specifically dehumanizing language. That's part of what paves the way for holocausts and genocides.

This is just the paradox of tolerance. I will not tolerate those who will not tolerate me, and I will not grant them the basic humanity they refuse me. They are villains, reprehensible and foul

you are not wrong brother!

These are the people that voted for someone who referred to people as vermin that poisoned the blood of our country. 1. They are emotion driven people. They should feel the hatred they dish out.

2. These people voted for dictatorship which is indeed the road we are on. Ergo, it is well within the realm of possibility that these are the people we could be in a civil war with in a few years.

Full agreement on all points! My very narrow issue is that we don't need to dehumanize them to do all of these things. They are my enemies, and they must be stopped. We can do that without setting the stage for torture, rapine, and crimes against humanity. (It's an odd hill to die on, I know.)

Quick correction: I meant sexual assault, not rapine.

I get that, appreciate that and admire that sentiment. However, if we do get into a civil war, it will be horrible beyond imagination in all those ways no matter what we do now. It serves a purpose to give them a clue as to what many of them will be in for should that horror befall our country.

They seem clueless to it up to now.

Yeah, I'm trying to thread the eye of an exceptionally fine needle. I am also convinced that civil war is now the only option available besides capitulation. Thus, my mini-crusade is for OUR sake - definitely not theirs.

I'd say there is still room for this regime to overplay its hand in a way that would result in the sort of mass protests that would have a chance at getting enough Republican Congresspeople to remember their oaths and find a sense of duty that he could be removed.

That said, the two outcomes you mentioned seem more and more likely with each passing week. We have been speeding past the peaceful off ramps on this road to dictatorship or civil war.

A military coup is also a possibility. There are plenty of people of honor in the military, especially in the officer corps, who took their oath to heart.