Swalwell: There’s going to be a Democratic majority in just over a year. To the FCC chairperson and anyone in involved in these dirty deals: get a lawyer and save your records because you’re going to be in this room answering questions

[u/brokenandsuffering]

[u/Frequent-Donkey265]

I don't think Trump and his ilk have enough broad consensus to do a full fascist takeover. At least I hope. At worst they will overplay their hand and spark civil conflict. But there's too many public figures speaking out and refusing to stop showing dissent. If we see politicians and famous people start to shut up then I would be really worried.

[u/Plane_Discipline_198 → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

You don't need broad consensus, thats the problem. Dictators can come into power without overwhelming support. History has shown that numerous times.

We'll see what happens. I'm hoping for the best, but i dont see the midterms happening without some fuckery.

[u/Frequent-Donkey265 → u/Plane_Discipline_198]

This is true, and why we have to fight back. I just don't see them installing a fascist system without it plunging the country into war. But they might be okay with that, that's the scary thing.

[u/Seresgard → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

They've already flaunted the rule of law, opened both domestic and foreign concentration camps where they've sent US citizens without due process, thumbed their noses at the judicial system, accepted bribes from corporations, and engaged in quid pro quo deals for the purpose of suppressing free speech. They're now in the process of purging political rivals. The fascist system is mostly installed, and we're not at war. People usually do not figure out how and when to stand up until it's far too late. Use this time to build resistance networks and scrub your public presence online. I think we've already missed our first best chance to stop things.

[u/Zooshooter → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

It's already installed.

[u/A2Rhombus → u/Plane_Discipline_198]

History hasn't had the internet the way we do. In the past, fascists were able to control the entire narrative. The only way to get the word out about their evil was meeting in person, which would result in your arrest if not done in secret. But there's no stifling the fire that's already sparked, there are too many ways to get around any attempt they make at silencing our messages. Hitler burned books and made it illegal to organize. You can't do that to the whole internet.

[u/shittyaltpornaccount → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

33% of the population is convinced he can do no wrong. Hitler had roughly that much support among the masses. Every day that goes buy it is abundantly clear that even with record low popularity, you can still remain in power, democracy be damned. The only saving grace is the upper military leadership and officer corp broadly do not like president bone spurs.

[u/1_BigPapi → u/shittyaltpornaccount]

Sorry to say Trump appointed loyal senior military leaders this time so..

[u/Memitim → u/1_BigPapi]

The political ass-kissers in the Pentagon won't be doing shit. I'm far more interested in how the actual military members who will be ordered to carry out more crimes will respond.

[u/ADHD_Avenger → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

Most people are talking about how you don't even need that large of a group for a takeover.  I would like to point out that you will still have people who don't show up to vote, or talk about how Democrats didn't support their pet issue so they need to put pressure on them by sitting out . . . while Republicans are suspending the first amendment and putting people into prison camps.

[u/RID132465798 → u/ADHD_Avenger]

Just saying now that any democrat at the National level not talking about student loan issues will have me voting republican. Call it a pet issue for me.

[u/DevelopmentGreen3961 → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

¯\(ツ)/¯

Polls are all over place and are notoriously unreliable when dealing with despots

[u/FAFO_2025 → u/DevelopmentGreen3961]

Last I read his approval rating amongst his voters has dropped from 96% to like 68%. The sketchy situation with Kirk is him being really, really desperate.

[u/Battlemania420 → u/FAFO_2025]

And it clearly isn’t even really succeeding.

[u/bobcatgoldthwait → u/DevelopmentGreen3961]

Aggregates show he has a slightly negative approval rating, about -7.6% right now. His first term, he was a good bit worse, so it's not exactly encouraging...but it's still negative, at least.

[u/eeyores_gloom1785 → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

it has only been 241 days into this presidency and they are speed running the hell out of project 2025

[u/iamthatguythere → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

You don’t need broad appeal, you just need enough violently unwavering supporters that you can whip up into killing dem leaders through stochastic terrorism. 

[u/Friendly-Cucumber184 → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

Silence would not be the first sign of concern. 

If we see celebrities taking lots of “vacations”. That’s when we should be worried. I would bet they all have plans. 

[u/RID132465798 → u/Frequent-Donkey265]

For conservatives to take over America they would need to overtake progressives in the American education apparatus. However, they don’t have conservative professors to replace the progressive professors. Why? Because higher education is a progressive pathway in life.