General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere is no fear on their part to any public reaction
for what they are going to do. Millions dying during Covid didn't bother them and in fact they saw it as an opportunity for more grift. So do you think they will care about a public reaction to huge cuts to Social Security and Medicare? Do you think they will care about public reaction to cutting all aid to Ukraine? Do you think they will care about mass discrimination and deportation policies? Do you think they will care about reaction to harms caused by gutting nearly all regulations and dismantling agencies? The list goes on and on.
They don't and won't. In fact they are itching to unleash massive force and arrest against any major protests. They are not afraid of the Supreme Court because, unlike Nixon, they will have no hesitation to send force to close it down. The first days of Hitler in power are their blueprint for rapid moves and solidifying total power. So should many of us think about the blueprint that many citizens of Germany used in the very early days and get the hell out of here while we can? We know the groups of people they are going to target for heavy repression and discrimination.
I am not saying they are going to run trains to the camps. But I am saying that most people alive today have no real memory of how bad it can get and how quickly. They have no memory of people being surveilled by the FBI because they spoke out against the draft and an unjust war. They have no memory of people working for civil rights being beaten and slaughtered in the night. They have no memory of people protesting for open housing being beaten by police and racist citizens and being attacked by dogs. They have no memory of McCarthy and the Red Scare and how your life could turn to almost nothing instantly just by someone making an accusation.
But I remember and so do many others but will we be heard in time? We tried to tell people this election was a fight for democracy itself in America. Far too many didn't listen to us "old fools" telling stories about things that sounded like an impossibility to them. Now here we are. Many of us who lived those times see it coming around again. The GQP/MAGA cult already freely admit that they have a very long list of "enemies" to go after. Those lists only grow longer with tyrants and their followers even as they damage more and more people. The list never ends.
So what to do? Of course our spirit is to fight. But realize that what we are fighting for is ourselves and not the ones who support this. Whatever negative impacts happen to them I will no longer care. They brought this nightmare to us to hurt us and I will not embrace a concern for the condition of evil people because even if you helped them they would immediately harm you in return if they could.
I am realistic and realize there will not be a great emigration but what has just happened gives us pause to the idea that simply "better arguments", "next time" etc. will be enough. Normandy didn't happen from within it was brought from the outside to help countries defeat a tyrant. We perhaps need to think in the direction. in a non-military way, to help thwart the tyrants and their billionaires. What that international pressure could be is to be determined and implemented but the necessity is now clearly very real.
onecaliberal
(35,643 posts)Airlines lose millions per hour, lots of business like that could be brought to their knees very quickly.
Irish_Dem
(56,002 posts)moniss
(5,518 posts)saw brutal repression of the US citizenry it could bring them to push their governments to take responsive measures regarding trade treaties, cooperation etc. Anything that can cause problems and economic pain for these tyrants is a good thing.
Irish_Dem
(56,002 posts)who are too stupid to help themselves.
moniss
(5,518 posts)countries that are non-aligned who are not "bending the knee" even before this. Tremendous negative impact can be made to this country with non-conventional economic strategies. US agriculture for example is heavily dependent on immigrant labor. You don't have to have majority control of that labor market in order to have a huge negative impact on planting/harvesting and the resulting pricing. Investing millions of dollars in "labor" companies that would sign up thousands and thousands of laborers, provide pay to them while not having them work in the fields and animal operations would have a major impact. Crops rotting in the field because the labor no longer is under the thumb of "work or no pay" will have a ripple effect of major proportions. If the harvest of corn is way down for instance then the railroad cars aren't used as much as well as the barges. If the animal operations and processing plants see an impact to their production of 10% plus it will have a major effect. Non conventional attack. Affect the means that keeps the coffers full. That's just one example. There are others. Those millions of dollars invested would cause billions in economic pain. Now you would have something to bargain with. Transactional is all these people care about.
Irish_Dem
(56,002 posts)Maybe some small financial deals like you mention.
But that is money, not anything to do with the American people.
American has made its bed and will be stuck with it.
Expecting help from some magical source is wishful thinking.
Like we kept expecting the courts, the DOJ, the government, someone to deal with Trump.
Our own people wouldn't save us from Trump. No one else will save us that is for sure.
moniss
(5,518 posts)and it is not always just a matter of someone "sticking their neck out for the American people" that can be the reason for an action. It can be for a multitude of reasons and some of those reasons may be self serving and a desire to cause pain to an enemy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.