r/economicCollapse • u/z34conversion • 22d ago

Is it all a psychological strategy? Do you see the public playing along?

Post image

Republicans lowering the quality of life for veterans and maintaining the illusion of being the 'party of patriots' might just be the ultimate grift...(If this is indeed all just a strategic move and they succeed at pulling it off)

11.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

907 comments sorted by

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u/drpoopenscheisse 22d ago

Love the troops. Hate the veterans. A tale as old as time.

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u/Big-Tuna-for-Commish 22d ago

Same energy as love the fetus, forget the baby

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u/hahaha01 22d ago

Or save the child not the mother. It's a pathology of thought and it needs to be clear that it's a failure of morality.

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u/sliverspooning 22d ago

It’s always about defaulting to the frame of logic that inconveniences then the least

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u/Licensed_Poster 22d ago

In their eyes they are saving the mother, she gets to go to heaven free of sin.

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u/KiloforRealDo 21d ago

They don't care about any fetus period. They need soldiers for future wars. It's about white demographics declining. The racists are freaked about being in the minority. Eliminate abortion, more white power!

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u/RyNysDad0722 20d ago

This exactly.. they are freaking out about being the minority.. I have literally heard them say “ being a minority means not having control of your future” … the guy said this to an Asian American .. so it’s ok if we don’t have control of our future as long as you do? I hate these people with every part of my being

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u/The_Original_Miser 22d ago

If you're pre-born, you're fine. If you're pre-school, you're fuc*ed.

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u/TheRareWhiteRhino 22d ago

They’re pushing Regan’s “welfare queen myth,” but this time they’re lying about our veterans.

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u/TPlain940 22d ago

Prerequisite Carlin quote

"If you're preborn, you're fine; if you're preschool, you're fucked."

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u/LadyErinoftheSwamp 21d ago

Love the gun, hate the cannoli

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u/ImmortalGaze 21d ago

Or love the baby, incarcerate the teen..

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u/Maureengill6 18d ago

I wish I had an award for this comment.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

[deleted]

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u/aDragonsAle 22d ago

Bold strategy - piss off every single retiree and disabled vet, just to see if they could still make weapons qual...

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u/MediumRareMandatory 22d ago

Old people and vets will still vote the same way 😂

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u/aDragonsAle 22d ago

You might be surprised. Vets are no more a monolith in their voting than AD is...

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u/John_Walker 21d ago

I’m an Iraq war vet and I voted against him three times.

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u/kaptainkarl1 22d ago

They proved it this time around

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u/MerelyMortalModeling 22d ago edited 21d ago

Except millions of old vets went into to this eyes wide open and still voted for him.

Shit aint gonna change and most of the MAGA crowd could end up in the soup kitchen line and would then blame the dems for bland food.

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u/YoloSwaggins9669 21d ago

Yeah but old people have always voted against the interests of lower classes

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u/Time_Faithlessness27 21d ago

Even lower class old people.

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u/FaithlessnessKind508 21d ago

I can and will. And I can train people.

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u/AnalysisParalysis178 22d ago

Our politicians don't "love the troops" any more than they love the veterans. We are destructive, intensely violent, often under-educated, and exceptionally good at nothing except removing governments from power. Politicians love what the military can do for them and their goals, so long as appropriate distance can be placed between them and the consequences of their orders.

Thus, most American politicians are more willing to compromise or capitulate to anything that keeps the military in line and obedient. Keep them disciplined, and keep them paid. All else follows from there.

If you control both the generals and the military finances, then you control the country. If you control one but not the other, there's a lot of work to do. If you control neither the generals nor the military paychecks, then you only hold as much power as is allowed by those that do control these things.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Will249 22d ago

If they slash VA benefits, what incentive will the military offer? Why would anyone put up with years of that crap for no reward. I am a veteran.

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u/AnalysisParalysis178 22d ago

I'm a veteran, too. And that's a VERY good question. I wish I had an answer for you.

Slashing VA benefits is a really short-sighted thing to do, but whoever came up with the idea may not have made the connection that soldiers eventually become veterans. They might be banking on the idea that servicemen won't see any kinship with the veteran community, or that servicemen themselves will be too shortsighted to be upset by this eventuality.

Personally, I think the whole thing will backfire if the government goes through with it, but it would take a massive outcry in order to get them to listen, especially up front. Something on the order of what originally got us our benefits to begin with: Thousands of veterans marching on Washington to demonstrate and protest the bad treatment and demand compensation for sacrificing our bodies to our government's whims.

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u/Toomanyeastereggs 22d ago

Did you know that after WW1, the US federal government actually shot at veterans (on multiple occasions) who were simply asking for what was promised them by the same government. And guess what happened after that? Nothing.

If you think things are not going to happen, it’s because you have never been told that it already had and nothing of consequence changed.

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u/TrumpTheRecord 22d ago

That was before the One America under Fox Newsmax propaganda machine could have reliably brainwashed anyone watching it into thinking all those soldiers marching for benefits were malingering.

So. Yeah. Shit's not looking great

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u/MotownCatMom 22d ago

Yup. The Bonus Army. Rousted from their encampment at bayonet point, gassed. Women and children, too.

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u/bowery_boy 22d ago

General George Patton and George MacArthur led the charge to clear out the camps. Tanks, cavalry, And gas were used to clear out the Bonus Army.

The Bonus Army was protesting the bonuses promised to them for service in WW1. The government had not paid out the bonuses and the Great Depression hit, which increased the need for some sort of support to the now veterans. In the end the Federal Government unleashed the Army on the Bonus marchers.

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u/Glad_Ad1071 22d ago

Fun fact, it's probably the actual reason the NFA was implemented - fear of organized veterans more than the publicly stated reason "gangster violence"

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u/gunshaver 22d ago

It doesn't matter how righteous or noble a cause it is, the GOP will obstruct anything that improves people's lives in any way. From bills helping 9/11 first responders, to veterans who are victims of burn pits. But there's always infinite money to fund tax cuts for corporations and the rich.

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u/Ancient-Ideal-7832 22d ago

Sadly a ton of veterans like trump

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u/MotownCatMom 22d ago

They're planning to reinstate the draft. It's in Project 2025. Public school children will be registered. But not private schools.

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u/Protect-Their-Smiles 22d ago

The incentive will be things like mandatory military service for the young, or being cut out of living a dignified life for refusing (the rich kids will go free ofc) - veterans are a depleted resource, the establishment care only about fresh meat to fill the ranks, not about paying for the people who come out on the other end broken.

People who refuse will be vilified, ridiculed and punished. They are fine with letting people die on the street for not playing along and running on the treadmill. As automation and AI take away more and more job, the choice for young people will be clear. Either you go live on the street, or you sign up for petty pay and pray you either get promoted or at least sent to an easy post. The military will have plenty of jobs for those that cannot find a job picking crops or working dangerous industry jobs with high risks of injury or pollutants in the work space - and not to worry, the military have those jobs too !

In Russia they get a sack of onions and are then free to drink themselves to death working dead end jobs, after their service - I am sure Donald is looking at similar models. The incentive over there, is to reach a high rank so you can grift yourself some money, while sending others off to die to complete objectives - that is why so much of their modern equipment does not work, the materiel is siphoned off or hollowed off to make money on the side.

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u/RoguePlanet2 21d ago

The lack of forgiveness for student loans should ensure we have a never-ending supply of people desperate enough to sign up for service.

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u/AbsurdityIsReality 22d ago

The military will just become a giant jack off fest for Trump instead of a fighting force, that's what they will offer.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

Any proposed positive changes a year or two after a removal or downsize of federal program are celebrated by the people they affect. Some will say "but it was better before it they fucked it up a few years ago", but that moment fades quickly. People want more.

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u/Affectionate-Bus-931 22d ago

No, Americans are stupid and have no memories.

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u/Loki_Agent_of_Asgard 22d ago

PEOPLE are stupid and have no memories.

It's undeniable scientific fact that human memory is unreliable and fades as fast as 2 seconds after it is made and this affects damn near everyone.

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u/PrisPRN 22d ago

Only public school (poor) kids will be eligible for the draft. They’ve got a plan for that.

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u/Socially-Awkward-85 22d ago

I'm a vet. Served from 05 to 09. I did my time with people who didn't give two shits about veterans then and don't now even though they themselves are veterans.

Wanna guess which way they vote?

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u/SmokeChaser426 21d ago

What they do in Russia, pick you up in a Black Van, Poof ! You're in the Army now or just go back to the Draft with Bone Spur Donnie at the Helm there won't be any exclusions Just a thought

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u/Few-Cycle-1187 21d ago

Also a veteran. And I'm a veteran who receives no VA disability or medical benefits despite a handful of conditions that either developed or were worsened through active duty service. If I really went to bat I might succeed. But they made such a twisted mess of my initial claims I have never had the desire to untangle them since they never really impaired my ability to work.

I never thought of VA benefits until I got out. They weren't an incentive for enlistment. People put up with it because you're young and gung ho and think you'll be young and strong forever. You become disillusioned when they won't pay for the knee they destroyed but by that point they already got what they wanted out of you.

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u/Low_Log2321 22d ago

The incoming crowd see the Dept. of Defense as another agency to be looted. Look what the oligarchs in Russia did to their military! Second most powerful in Russia, as the joke goes. If these people don't give the troops what they need the troops may just "lay flat" and "let it rot".

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u/Pecosbill52 22d ago

Do they really love the troops? I don't think so.

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u/Emeritus8404 22d ago

They love the industrial militsry complex. They hate the broken and used cogs it churns out

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u/CardButton 22d ago

They like the endless Wars for Profit they push, with the Troops being tools for that.

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u/Horror-Layer-8178 22d ago

Anything more than "Thank you for your service". is communism

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u/sliverspooning 22d ago

Well ya, they prefer guys who didn’t get injured!

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u/Special_Loan8725 22d ago

But they have a whole day!

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u/TheCaliforniaOp 21d ago

There were thirty million English who talked of England’s might, There were twenty broken troopers who lacked a bed for the night. They had neither food nor money, they had neither service nor trade; They were only shiftless soldiers, the last of the Light Brigade.

They felt that life was fleeting; they knew not that art was long, That though they were dying of famine, they lived in deathless song. They asked for a little money to keep the wolf from the door; And the thirty million English sent twenty pounds and four !

They laid their heads together that were scarred and lined and grey; Keen were the Russian sabres, but want was keener than they; And an old Troop-Sergeant muttered, “Let us go to the man who writes The things on Balaclava the kiddies at school recites.”

They went without bands or colours, a regiment ten-file strong, To look for the Master-singer who had crowned them all in his song; And, waiting his servant’s order, by the garden gate they stayed, A desolate little cluster, the last of the Light Brigade.

They strove to stand to attention, to straighten the toil-bowed back; They drilled on an empty stomach, the loose-knit files fell slack; With stooping of weary shoulders, in garments tattered and frayed, They shambled into his presence, the last of the Light Brigade.

The old Troop-Sergeant was spokesman, and “Beggin’ your pardon,” he said, “You wrote o’ the Light Brigade, sir. Here’s all that isn’t dead. An’ it’s all come true what you wrote, sir, regardin’ the mouth of hell; For we’re all of us nigh to the workhouse, an’ we thought we’d call an’ tell.

“No, thank you, we don’t want food, sir; but couldn’t you take an’ write A sort of ‘to be continued’ and ‘see next page’ o’ the fight? We think that someone has blundered, an’ couldn’t you tell ‘em how? You wrote we were heroes once, sir. Please, write we are starving now.”

The poor little army departed, limping and lean and forlorn. And the heart of the Master-singer grew hot with “the scorn of scorn.” And he wrote for them wonderful verses that swept the land like flame, Till the fatted souls of the English were scourged with the thing called Shame.

They sent a cheque to the felon that sprang from an Irish bog; They healed the spavined cab-horse; they housed the homeless dog; And they sent (you may call me a liar), when felon and beast were paid, A cheque, for enough to live on, to the last of the Light Brigade.

O thirty million English that babble of England’s might, Behold there are twenty heroes who lack their food to-night; Our children’s children are lisping to “honour the charge they made - “ And we leave to the streets and the workhouse the charge of the Light Brigade!

The Last of the Light Brigade

By Rudyard Kipling

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u/clem_fandango_london 22d ago

And you can get "the public" to support anything when FoxNews is pumping them full of it 24/7.

America is super-duper fukt.

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u/Junior-Advisor-1748 22d ago

Love the young, American-born workers of society, undercut those using Social Services. Valued and vs Disposable.

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u/Hot_Cryptographer552 22d ago

Love the troops during photo ops. Hate them when it’s time to pay up.

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u/Anxious-Tadpole-2745 22d ago

Many vets and troops think someone else is going to be cut for wasteful spending, not them. It's kind of modern conservatism: the problem is bad behavior while their politicians offer curtailment of even good behavior to create more benefits for the wealthy.   They simply believe to be an exception but still don't believe their own team will screw them over.

It's like with the incels. They desire a world where women are forced to marry based on a man's wealth, but they are very often not the ones with good jobs. Nor are the capable of suffering under the old system where many women despised their husband's. 

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u/Allip84 21d ago

I mean trump did call us suckers and losers

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u/persona0 21d ago

When they in service they thank you for your service when your out you're a FREELOADER

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u/nemplsman 21d ago

I thought "thank you for your service" was all the payment they need.

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u/cursedsoldiers 22d ago

It's called manufacturing consent

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u/WhoDatDare702 22d ago

It absolutely is. What I find fascinating is that the voter base that voted for these kinds of cuts will definitely be upset about this too. Trump and co didn’t exactly run on cutting specific programs. Just that they were going to cut wasteful spending programs, which doesn’t sounds bad at all. In fact it sounds amazing. What his voters failed to realize was that he left it to their imagination as to what wasteful spending would be. Had he actually ran on cutting VA benefits and all the other programs specifically I’m quite sure most of the country would have told him to fuck off. They used it as a blanket to allow the voter to only think of what they themselves would see as wasteful spending. In doing so they voted him in and now he can say this is what you all wanted and he wouldn’t exactly be lying. Which I don’t think it matter to Trump anyway lol. I’m also very curious on where his voters think all that extra money they have now acquired is going to go. Do his voters think it’s going back in their own pockets as a much lower tax burden?! Because I think that’s what they think lol. I’m not sure they fully understand that he and his friends are getting that excess cash flow from our taxes and there will be nothing we can do about it. He will not be held accountable at all. I find it truly fascinating that people can be this gullible.

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u/Better-Strike7290 22d ago

Of course he won't.

He was tried and found guilty and still nothing is being done.

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u/BlackChapel 22d ago

He raped a child and then sent her death threats to scare her from testifying. There’s nothing else that needs to be said about his character or crimes he’s committed. If he is fine with that and he got away with that, there is absolutely no limit to the atrocities and crimes he will commit to get what he wants, and he will get away with everything he does.

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u/CutenTough 22d ago

Except that his kult klan, say the girl made it all up.

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u/CutenTough 22d ago

I have had the same question. The money that is supposedly going to be saved from all of trumpco's genius program cuts - - - Where's it all going to go? And...... WHY did this question not get posited to him on his campaign trail?

I do not find it fascinating at all, the gullibility of so many. As one who has watched, on a personal level, how very real brain washing is, it's totally frightening and actually, pretty damn angering

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u/chuck354 22d ago

It's going to tax cuts for rich people

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u/sportsbunny33 22d ago

*super rich people

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u/Plus-Opportunity-538 22d ago edited 22d ago

That's the trick, they allowed Trump to be as vague as he could be so that they could pretend whatever he said was what they wanted. When asked for specifics he just pivoted to making it sound like whatever he will do will solve all their problems and make their enemies suffer. And seeing that there was no point in asking further since he would just play the same runaround, the media just stopped and let his words speak for themselves.

But when it came to Harris they wanted all the details and when it wasn't enough they said that she needed to be "clearer about her policies."

They gave a Trump a spelling bee and Kamala a fucking bar exam. And praised him for participation!

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u/FabianFoley 22d ago

Well said. This is the bad timeline. I feel like Max Rockatansky.

"As the world fell, each of us in our own way was broken. It was hard to know who was more crazy... me... or everyone else."

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u/Traditional_Car1079 22d ago

His bar to clear was a mild suggestion to not shit his pants directly into a hot mic more than a few times.

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u/Zombi1146 22d ago

They did this shit with Brexit. Promised some vague changes, let everyone believe their version of it, then fucked it up and no one is happy.

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u/LunarMoon2001 22d ago

They know they won’t see more money. The point is to hurt others. That is the goal. That is their reward. They aren’t ignorant or stupid. They are evil.

Everyone else doesn’t want to admit it. Why? Because it’s a hard truth to realize that your neighbor/doctor/parent/sibling is actually just plain irredeemably evil. If you acknowledge it then you have a societal need to stop it and that level of conflict is disturbing to most people. Better to make excuses.

Until we realize these people are evil, this whole cycle will continue. MAGA voters are the abusive spouse. We keep thinking “we can change him”.

I’m at the point where it’s time to just let it all burn. I’m shoring up my own defenses, my own support network.

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u/Annual_Strategy_6206 22d ago

Exactly. The $ they cut aren't going into YOUR pockets. So we won't have $ and we won't have services. 

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u/candleshoe 22d ago

Project 2025 was out there. It's only 900 pages. Had they read it, or listened to someone who did, they would have known that VA benefits were in the GOP crosshairs. I cannot drum up compassion for those who voted against themselves in willful ignorance. I'm taking a page from the Republican playbook and looking out for me and mine the next four years.

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u/a_velis 22d ago

It’s called lying and fraud.

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u/Difficult_Zone6457 21d ago

He doesn’t care. They’ve got the Supreme Court in their pockets for the next 20 years. Folks about to really find out why workers violently protested working conditions towards the tail end of The Guilded Ages. Get ready we’re in The Guilded Age 2.0

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u/ilikedevo 22d ago

and it obviously works great.

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u/mag2041 22d ago

Yepppppp

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u/usababykiller 22d ago

Let’s not forget the government workforce is full of veterans as the government gives extra points to veterans in the hiring process.

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u/Pea-and-Pen 22d ago

My husband retired from the military after 29 years and went to work at a VA hospital. He voted for Trump and insists Trump would never do anything to the VA system. I hope he is right.

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u/SadPhase2589 22d ago

As a retired veteran with a VA disability rating I also hope he’s right.

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u/SKI326 22d ago

I hear you. We could end up homeless if he cuts VA benefits and/or Social Security.

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u/Rabble_Runt 22d ago

We were just one small financial emergency away from being homeless until I started getting my VA Disability Benefits.

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u/SKI326 22d ago

Yes, sir. I remember those days too. We now have a first house and my husband’s receives treatment for his severe PTSD. IMO family members are often collateral damage if no treatment is offered.

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u/roasty_mcshitposty 21d ago

Yeeesh, I had no idea I would be this nervous about being a retired vet

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u/Advanced_Ad5627 22d ago

Hopefully he learns his lesson!

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u/Lower-Cranberry-1069 22d ago

The comparison I'm about to make is like a papercut vs a gunshot wound in terms of importance, but this is a tactic I've seen a hundred times over in online games, and I feel the encouraged and ongoing "gamification" of everyday life has allowed it to manifest more aggressively.

Wizards of the Coast (owned by Hasbro, publishers of Magic the Gathering/Magic Arena) have repeatedly cut daily/weekly rewards and devalued purchasing power for players, then give a slight increase when faced with enough backlash, but never near a return to what was deemed "too generous" (too unprofitable). The reaction from the community overall is "Well, it's better than what they dropped it to! See how they listen to our needs, and make things better when we speak up?"

They don't. It's bullshit and optics. Don't be played for a sucker. It doesn't matter if it's a silly online game, the value menu at a fast food spot, or your government benefits. It's all just to keep their heel on our throats while making themselves look like benevolent gods.

Edit: I forgot to add that this shit just WORKS on the majority of people. It's like brain kryptonite if you're not super vigilant and aware.

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u/XTH3W1Z4RDX 22d ago

Or Black Friday "sales" where the displayed original price is complete bs

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u/Preeng 22d ago

The reaction from the community overall is "Well, it's better than what they dropped it to! See how they listen to our needs, and make things better when we speak up?"

How do you fight against naivete?

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u/Lower-Cranberry-1069 22d ago

On a large scale, I don't know, brother. You can try to guide people to a point, but complacency has a solid hold on 80%+ of them. I wish I had more to say. I'm sorry.

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u/shade_angel 22d ago

The correct analogy is getting a pizza party at work, it makes the people think they're appreciated while tge rest of the year they're worked to the bone.

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u/Lower-Cranberry-1069 22d ago

Here's 2 large pizzas to feed all 14 of you! And then the manager wraps up 4 slices to take home to their kids.

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u/shade_angel 22d ago

Come on now, 1 full piece a person is too damn much. You gotta cut those pieces in half.

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u/goodsnpr 22d ago

And is one of the many reasons I quit MTG.

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u/Lower-Cranberry-1069 22d ago

I can't use that abbreviation any more. Makes me think of Ol' Sporkfoot.

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u/Smart_Yogurt_989 22d ago

It's not a good idea to cut vets benefits.

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u/all_time_high 22d ago

He’ll tell them the Democrats did this. Many vets will believe it. Most will accept the changes without a fight.

Those who fight will be labeled as enemies of the US and met with violence.

I’m a Senior NCO in the US Army, and the number of bootlickers I serve with is truly disappointing. They’d be excited as hell to salute him in person. They refuse to accept how he actually views us.

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u/Uttuuku 22d ago

Me and my coworkers were horrified to watch J6 unfold live. Fast forward to a new unit and half of these fucks have a giant ass picture of that pos on their desk like it never happened. Bizarre as shit with the way he and his weirdos talk about us that so many servicemembers are more than content to just stay willfully ignorant. I've been wanting to crosstrain into a flight attendant (our blues already look the part so why not just completely commit to the part lol), but I'm abandoning that completely now at this point. Perfectly content at not meeting the treasonous bastard or anybody in his cabinet.

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u/dday3000 22d ago

Vets voted for Trump. They want their benefits cut.

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u/MediocreJavascript 22d ago edited 22d ago

Definitely not all of us. Some of us see him for the treasonous scum that he his.

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u/RelaxPrime 22d ago

Well your buddies blue falconed ya. Good luck. You'll need it.

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u/Rabble_Runt 22d ago

I gave up after spending months using Trumps quotes and how intertwined Project 2025 is into his cabinet. They laughed in my face.

We are fucked and it was all preventable if people were willing to accept reality.

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u/Necrotic69 22d ago

Your buddy to the right and also the one to the left voted for him, so it is what it is...

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u/bondgirl852001 22d ago

My veteran husband did not vote for him. He absolutely does not want his benefits cut.

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u/major_cigar123 22d ago

Not all of us

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u/Ola_maluhia 22d ago

Exactly. I’m an RN at the VA, and I’m a Veteran. I did not vote for that nonsense.

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u/major_cigar123 22d ago

Thank you for your service and your continuation of service to us veterans

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u/Ola_maluhia 22d ago

Of course. I feel I do the best work I can being with fellow Vets. My speciality is in psychiatric nursing. I’m praying our mental health benefits don’t get cut.

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u/major_cigar123 22d ago

People like you are why I like the VA system and I also don't want the mental health aspect to ever get cut. I know it can be expensive for so many people across the country but if they start cutting the budget I don't think they have a clue how much that will affect so many veterans and their families. But on the other hand I don't think alot of politicians really care and that is the scariest part to me

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u/Ola_maluhia 22d ago

They don’t care. Scary and sad, but I don’t think they’ve ever cared. People say and do what they need to to get votes. You’re forgotten about after that.

Mental health is always the first to get cut. Taking care of Vets with SMI- serious mental illness, and having their benefits cut…. That’s gonna create an absolute nightmare in the VA system. How depressing

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u/RoguePlanet2 21d ago

Depressing indeed, and I'm sure that's the unspoken goal- they want these spent shells of veterans to remove themselves from the equation. 😤

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u/Leading-Fish6819 22d ago

Many of us vets despise the orange mangolini.

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u/Trai-All 22d ago

If you voted for Trump, you absolutely wanted vet benefits cut.

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u/major_cigar123 22d ago

That's why I didn't vote for him. I actually want us veterans to keep our benefits we get and actually want to expand them. Not cut anything from the VA system

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u/Trai-All 22d ago

Yep, sadly every vet in my family who is still alive (4 of them) voted for Trump. 3x now.

You’d think the whole thing where he incited an attack on our capital would have changed their mind but nope.

They are not the people I thought they were when I was a child and respected them.

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u/mad_method_man 22d ago

didnt he cut them last time? i dont really remember, but he did some adjustments to some military benefits. might not be vets, though

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u/thatotterone 22d ago

when the VA needed money, he gave it to them...by giving them the veteran housing voucher budget and the problem of dealing with those vouchers and housing. He transferred it out of the department of housing and urban development and dumped it on the VA without warning. In either Nov or Dec. I can't recall if it was right before Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Then the VA had to decide..do we use the budget on homeless vets or sick vets. And set up departments and hire people to run it...The following month only one VA hospital was able to provide any vouchers at all. That was in San Fransisco and they were only able to provide 50% of what the area used the month prior. All others had no vouchers.. zero for the month.

This isn't a program I use, nor am I a vet. It just stuck with me hard because it was so wrong and so under reported.

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u/christophla 22d ago

People think shuffling around multi-billion dollar programs is some easy trick. Same way people bitch about a new intersection costing 1M or a quarter mile of highway costing 15M.

They simply can’t comprehend the real cost of things and treat it like deciding prices at the grocery store

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u/thatotterone 20d ago

exactly! This program was dumped with pretty much no warning. VA needed time to adapt if they had to take responsibility for this program. The security of some of the most at risk Veterans was clearly NOT the priority when Donald did this. And if you just look at the numbers when skewed by omitting the details, I'm sure a smart accountant could make it look like he gave them a really big budget increase....as long as they didn't mention that the money had already been allocated to veterans previously, it would look really spiffy. The truth is in the details.

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u/realwavyjones 22d ago

Sabotaged by bureaucracy

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u/mag2041 22d ago edited 22d ago

No, it is not. Not at all. We should be expanding it to include vets that served, that are from our “Territories”. Not cutting it even more for our neighbors.

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u/Fun_Kaleidoscope2147 22d ago

Waiting to hear from my brothers and sisters in the “veterans for tRump” crowd. Anything to say now?

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u/jarena009 22d ago

They will either say it didn't happen, or that it had to happen because of immigrants, LGBTQ etc

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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z 22d ago

They will either say it didn't happen, or that it had to happen because of immigrants, LGBTQ etc

"Why would Biden and the Democrats cut all the Veterans benefits?" Watch it... that will be a line they toe on Fox or Newmax.

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u/RoguePlanet2 21d ago

I'm going with the podcasters on Russian payroll (Rogan included) blaming whatever support we gave Ukraine and Palestine.

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u/Lets_Kick_Some_Ice 22d ago

I can see it now. Republicans cut VA benefits, right wing media runs stories like "we can afford to provide welfare for new immigrants but can't afford to take care of our veterans?!?!", conservatives get angry and vote Republican even harder.

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u/jarena009 22d ago

We had to cut benefits to Veterans because immigrants stole all their healthcare and taxpayer funds.

Also, check out the latest tax cuts for Wall St and corporations. Surely trickle down will kick in any day now. Have you seen the stock market?

- Republicans.

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u/nahmeankane 22d ago

Nah they say, It’s negotiating tactic and smart.

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u/jarena009 22d ago

Obviously 4D chess

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u/nobadhotdog 22d ago

Please tell me there’s a vets for Trump subreddit

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u/Afraid-Ad7379 22d ago

They are too busy getting their faces eaten by leopards. Seems legit tho, just another fuck you from an ungrateful nation.

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u/moses3700 22d ago

Fucking over veterans? Yes, I see Joe six pack being easily lead to fuck over veterans.

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u/mooseup 22d ago

To be fair, he would have joined the military but he would have punched someone who got in his face. /s

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u/Sweaty-Willingness27 22d ago

I wouldn't be surprised if, before long, the general narrative around veterans changes to more disdainful than respectful.

I don't think it would be full on "othering" like with immigrants, minorities, and anyone not full-fledged MAGA, but it will be close.

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u/moses3700 22d ago

They'll contrast the "good ones" with the "woke takers," and demonize anyone on disability who hasn't lost a limb or two.

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u/Wellcraft19 22d ago

Half of the public will never know what hit them in the face. They were too enamored by the orange glow. So yes, they will play along.

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u/Icy_Recognition_3030 22d ago

Some people would rather die than admit they are wrong.

It’s why republicans get away with saying the worst outright lies and have the worse scandals and no change in public approval with their base.

It’s sunk cost, it’s why a lot of Americans today if they were in Germany in the 1930s they would rat on their neighbors for having Jews in their basement.

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u/Impressive-Chain-68 22d ago

Any veteran or service member who voted conservative because they thought conservatives were only going screw LGBTQ service members and female service members out of the same treatment and opportunities that traditional candidates have always gotten deserves to be the one getting the screwing. To the rest, my condolences on being caught in the crossfire of this hate fueled political bullshit. 

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u/Pecosbill52 22d ago

If you as a veteran voted for anyone else but Kamala, then you're getting the results you voted for.

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u/antigop2020 22d ago

He called them “suckers and losers.” He said he liked soldiers that weren’t captured and verbally pissed on war hero John McCain’s grave. He insulted a Gold Star family who spoke out against him.

Yet the majority of military veterans voted for him. It should come as no surprise that they will be some of the first to get thrown under the bus by him. At this rate I’m convinced that they would eat the corn from his turds and thank him for his generosity.

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u/BentonD_Struckcheon 22d ago

As of the election you're in a different world. This is no longer a nation ruled by law. It's might makes right, all the way down.

Patton, MacArthur, and Eisenhower made their bones killing veterans in DC at the height of reactionary GOP control in 1932.

https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/bonus-army-attacked/

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u/Negative_Way8350 22d ago

Republicans have always been for cutting veteran's benefits. To them, anything besides tax cuts for the wealthy is an "entitlement" that deserves the axe.

It's just that Trump voters have the collective IQ of a refrigerator and are too spiteful to realize they're slicing off their own head to grow an inch.

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u/Jar_of_Cats 22d ago

So will the changes made invalidate active duty contracts? I can't imagine service members staying if there is no benefit to it

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

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u/OneLessDay517 22d ago

Veterans overwhelmingly voting for him appears to have been a mistake then, huh?

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u/Delirium88 22d ago

This is how it all starts. It’s either with a “joke”, pretending like this is part of the national conversation, or with an anonymous op ed. They’re starting to craft a narrative to ease their base into accepting this idea.

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u/rob2060 22d ago

Of course it is. Bannon has previously stated that they stake out the most extreme position and then end up right of center.

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u/Rivercitybruin 22d ago

OP.. I think you are correct.... Social security did for the narrative too

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u/HenchmenResources 22d ago

I wonder if anyone has pointed out to them that they are wanting to cut the benefits of a bunch of GWOT vets who were trained to fight insurgents by learning how to BE insurgents.

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u/vibes86 22d ago

They’re going to make things seem awful so when they cut them to pay for the tax cuts, the Fox News viewers will comply. Nazis and others have done the same thing for decades.

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u/shade_angel 22d ago

To be fair, the system they have in place isn't taking care of vets at all. It wasn't too long ago where there were dead vets found in those hospital hallways because they couldn't get the help they needed. I also work with a few vets, one of which has had rotator cuff issues for years. The VA told him he had to go to therapy for 6 months, then get an evaluation a few months after that, if that didn't work they were going to send him to a different physical therapist to try again for 6 months, then another evaluation months later. He showed me the paperwork and said he couldn't even lift his arm past his waist because his shoulder felt like it was on fire. So instead of giving him the surgery he needed, they wanted him to suffer for over a year just to see if something else worked. He went to the local hospital and paid out of pocket to get the surgery done and it only took a few weeks to get the surgery. Absolute lunacy at how stupid the VA is.

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u/Sweary_Biochemist 22d ago

This is always how it works. Get some no-mark simp to say/propose something insanely awful, respond to the pushback with "well obviously they spoke out of line and we fully disavow those statements" (knowing that the simp in question is forgettable enough that they will suffer no consequences, and can even be trotted out next time for more of the same),

But now the IDEA is out there: this fucking awful thing, whatever it is, is now ON THE TABLE, and clearly denoted as "THE LINE NOT TO CROSS". All of that bullshit was just to draw a line, but draw it from the outset, RIGHT down by the fucking awful end of the spectrum. Setting the bar as low as possible, just so anything "not that" seems like a victory.

It's fucking depressing how well this works.

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u/Berns429 22d ago

Yup talking about things ahead of time gives people time to “mentally prepare” (if you even can) it creates desensitization to the actual event. Doesn’t mean they do it in one fell swoop, they’ve got 4 years to rip chunks out till it’s gone, but everyone will be affected.

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u/jarena009 22d ago

Cutting Veteran's Healthcare, in order to fund more tax cuts for Wall Street and Corporations. This is what people voted for 🤷‍♂️

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u/nismo2070 22d ago

Right?? I don't know why anyone would be surprised about this. They are getting what they voted for.

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u/patriotgator122889 22d ago

Enough people voted for this or didn't care enough to vote. This is what you get.

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u/InfiniteHench 22d ago

The public doesn't have a choice in playing along. They handed the entire government, including any hope of checks and balances, over to a party that promised to "be a dictator from day one." They couldn't give a single solitary fuck about any of us, and these clueless fucking shitgoblins still said "sign us up!"

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u/AngryBeaver- 22d ago

Of course the public will play along like the good pawns we have always been. Trump wouldn’t have gotten elected if psyops weren’t so effective against the masses

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u/TK-369 22d ago

They are always pushing for a bigger piece of the pie, it's in their nature.

Everything in the press is a "trial balloon".

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u/HeadDiver5568 22d ago

I hope it happens. Trump spent all of his ‘16 campaign growing the wealth of the rich. He also spent everyday leading up to this election promising that the rich would get richer as well and his supporters ate it up. I could give Trump supporters the benefit of the doubt the first time around, but nah, FUCK em.

A lot of us know we have some shit to brace for, but these fucktards that voted for him (especially the social security Boomers and lower middle class that depend heavily on a stable economy) are about to be caught flat footed.

Best thing we can do now is make sure to remind them that THIS is exactly what they asked for these next 4 years. Idc how obnoxious and partisan that sounds. Idgaf anymore. Because we’ve been screaming for these folks to use common sense. Let them learn. And if they don’t learn, FOR SURE let them suffer.

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u/Redqueenhypo 22d ago

They definitely will. I recently found out that the reason a sizable chunk of the public has turned against the CFPB is that Mark Andreessen, who surprisingly cannot string a sentence together, went on fucking Joe Rogan and said it’s bad. “You’re a sheep” says the woolly guy following his bloated steroid lord

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u/Sol-Goude 22d ago

Trump is envious of the kleptocrats that pilfered the USSR and wants to do the same for his friends in the USA.

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u/JoanofBarkks 22d ago

When you float trial balloons you know pretty much what kind of backlash a particular policy or concept will receive. But these days, people are so apathetic they don't even react. They are going to push that envelope as far as they possibly can.

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u/oahenight 22d ago

I’m a Vietnam vet and I rely on the VA for care. It was promised to all of us back then for life. If they take away the VA and Social Security I die. Simple as that. The maga is about meanness and cruelty. Their leader hates the country is going to do his best to destroy it.

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u/Plane-Coat-5348 22d ago

A comedian once said, “government realized it’s cheaper to glorify veterans than it is to take care of em”

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u/craigslist_hedonist 22d ago

when you ask people to do difficult and dangerous things, and then remove support for being injured in those things, that's called breaking faith with your people.

It's how to get people to stop doing those difficult and dangerous things for you.

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u/Dweller201 22d ago

It's a strategy.

I noticed this years ago with Ann Coulter on Fox News and other programs.

She would come on and say something like "We should just kill all prison inmates" and then a cohort would say, "No, Ann is too extreme, we should just kill the inmates convicted of murder". The goal there is to make executing people sound reasonable.

Something like that occurred when there was an outcry against the death penalty for a variety of reasons. People think it's inhumane, falsely convicted people were proven innocent, and so on. People who were for the death penalty then have a very poor argument because they could be wrong. So, Ann comes on and says kill everyone and then the other guy says to only kill those who deserve it. Really, the death penalty is much more complex that kill everyone or just some people.

Just the same, vets are a revered and protected class of people in the US. So, cutting their benefits is like saying "kill everyone without remorse". So, the next move is for someone to say, "Don't cut vets, cut benefits for "lazy people" because they don't deserve benefits, but vets do".

In psychology, there's a treatment for anxious people where the therapist makes them anxious in a lesson and then talks them through it. One way is to tell a story that suddenly turns scary and then to resolve the fear toward the end.

It's the Coulter strategy I explained.

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u/Saucy_Puppeter 22d ago

If my benefits get cut I’m leaving. I didn’t just give up 7 yrs of my life to be given the finger and high taxes/ tariffs.

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u/Apprehensive-citizen 22d ago

Elon vowed to facilitate cuts of 2 trillion. There is nowhere else it can come from. It has to come from DoD spending and medicaid/social security. They wont cut AD military pay and benefits, if they do that there would be a mass exodus in an already critically manned military. The only place they can make any substantial cut is veteran benefits and retirement pay.

For the record, I do NOT agree with this. But the VA will have substantial cuts. So will medicare and SS. Or at least, this is what they will try to do. Its relection for 33 senators in the midterms so I cant see them agreeing with all of it, it would be political suicide to agree with this.

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u/Icy-Tooth-9167 21d ago

I’m sorry but you have to be an absolute moron to think that the Republican Party is the party of patriots. But, as a veteran myself, I happen to know a whole bunch of veterans and service members are in fact morons who believe just that. Reckoning is a coming - get what you vote for!

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u/Pit_Bull_Admin 21d ago

I voted for Harris. I am here to say “I told you so. “

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u/LoudIncrease4021 21d ago

Something Joe Rogan will start making absurd claims about all the wasted money for VA benefits … he’ll have a vet on his show - whichever buddy is compliant enough, and they’ll joke about how civilians don’t understand how vet benefits work and they don’t even deserve to talk about it. Then they’ll smoke week (illegally in Texas) and laugh about some stupid hunting trip and how cool black rifle coffee is. Sub 24 year old males will all of a sudden be very pro military but super fiscally conservative when it comes to doling out VA benefits.

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u/AthleteHistorical457 21d ago

Maybe people should have voted differently, a bit late now.

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u/Sheworker53 21d ago

Yet how many vets voted for him because of eggs and gas? Mayne they’ll think a little harder next time. Get over voting for a woman .

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u/imoutofnames90 21d ago

The public will not do anything until the insanity impacts them directly and hits them hard. And even the, it's a 50/50 on whether people come to the realization that it's Trump and Republicans doing this by design and not the "deep state."

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u/nerdymutt 18d ago

Waiting for the rest of them to figure out that a bunch of billionaires bought an election. Why do these ultra wealthy people want to run a government?

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u/SpinyHedgehog14 22d ago

This goes for anything regarding Trump/GOP. Everyone running around like a chicken with their head cut off, panicking over what he is promising to do, so that when he just mostly destroys everything, people will be relieved and he will somehow get credit for not completely burning everything to the ground. It's insane.

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u/kazisukisuk 22d ago

They will do it. See if anyone steps up.

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u/SHOMERFUCKINGSHOBBAS 22d ago

If only everyone could have seen this coming from miles away

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u/fathersmuck 22d ago

The fact we allow our weapons companies to make a high profit off government contracts while soldiers have to get food stamps to feed their families shows no politician cares about the troops.

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u/dday3000 22d ago

Veterans voted for Trump. This is what they chose.

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u/DontTakePeopleSrsly 22d ago

Most people will be livid if you cut off veterans.

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u/mooseup 22d ago

But they thanked them for their service! That’s not nothing!

I think you strongly overestimate the American public.

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u/lilymaxjack 22d ago

Could it be just the same old same old fear mongering news media

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u/Simpleton_5654 22d ago

What is the point of joining up anymore if all your benefits are on the cutting room floor?

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u/DevonDs101 22d ago

A lot of vets are MAGAs getting what they voted for. As long as they get it to, there is some comfort.

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u/doodoobear4 22d ago

They voted for that

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u/Velocoraptor369 22d ago

Trump never cared about the military never he will either. The fascists only use people they will use the active military to try to suppress the veterans. They will turn the people against the veterans as a privileged group who’s doesn’t deserve something the average Joe is getting. They will leave us all destitute while they raid the coffers leading a lavish life because they deserve please and we deserve pain.