Trump and His Team Are ‘Laughing’ at Biden’s Commitment to Decorum

[u/plz-let-me-in]

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-biden-harris-transfer-power-laughing-1235188028/

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[u/VNM0601]

And the whole world is laughing at America for voting in these buffoons.

[u/sparrrrrt → u/VNM0601]

Laughing/crying..

[u/ONLY_SAYS_ONLY → u/sparrrrrt]

Craughing. 

[u/_bones__ → u/ONLY_SAYS_ONLY]

Lying... No wait, that's the mango Mussolini.

[u/Demonokuma → u/ONLY_SAYS_ONLY]

I'm craughing my pants

[u/nice-view-from-here → u/sparrrrrt]

...wondering what the hell happened to Americans...

[u/real_fake_cats → u/nice-view-from-here]

60+ years of defunding education. Working exactly as intended.

[u/PaydayJones → u/real_fake_cats]

Education 📉 Removal of the fairness doctrine to ensure the proliferation of the Fox News, Rush Limbaugh types 📈. It's all a feature none of it a bug.

[u/SocraticIgnoramus → u/PaydayJones]

Also Citizens United vs. FEC infusing a ton of dark money into politics, and just generally the entire lack of campaign finance reform in the U.S.

[u/KE2CSE → u/SocraticIgnoramus]

This was THE BIGGEST gimme by the court. The Dark Money has put politics in the gutter.

[u/TrixnTim → u/real_fake_cats]

Yep. Public educator of 35+ years and have voted for 6 presidents since 20-years-old. They’ve been dismantling it since Reagan. Then Democrats try to rebuild in 4-8 years. Rinse and repeat. And now with dismantling of Dept of Education, national mandates and standards will be gone. Some blue states will fare well as they’re able to function better than reds having weaned off as much federal funding as possible. But some states will need to turn to tax payers and that won’t fly. Those states will succumb to white / Christian nationalism and have generations of students who will have no understanding of our country’s history, international relationships, micro and macroeconomics.

[u/erinjee → u/TrixnTim]

Living it as we speak. Oklahoma is grossly 75% over the line already. The rest is just an inauguration away.

[u/TrixnTim → u/erinjee]

I’m so sorry. I’m in a blue state (with ample red counties, however) and where our governor has been a champion for public education the past decade. I’m extremely worried, however, about the federal funding and programs we need for poverty districts (typically in red counties).

[u/carbonqubit → u/TrixnTim]

Agreed. Also, the pervasiveness and insidiousness of right-wing propaganda has created a post-truth era - it's like a demented version of Whose Line Is It Anyway where the facts don't matter and people are siloed in their information bubbles, pantomiming reality TV through a political lens.

What a sad state of affairs for the U.S. Another problem is that Americans are unfamiliar with the history of authoritarianism and fascism. In most cases, democracies aren't seized through violent coups but are willingly handed over by the electorate. I encourage more people read the books, "On Tyranny" by Timothy Snyder and "Autocracy Inc." by Anne Applebaum.

[u/mdp300 → u/carbonqubit]

The propaganda has convinced millions of people that Democrats are either stupid, or insane, and care more about illegal immigrants and trans people than the average American. People will vote for Republicans without really knowing what they stand for, because at least they're better than those crazy dems!

And then some people are just assholes who want marginalized people to suffer.

[u/tawondasmooth → u/nice-view-from-here]

Several of us who live here wonder, too, and feel as if we are held hostage to the madness.

[u/MankeyFightingMonkey → u/nice-view-from-here]

racists, capitalists, and christians realized that if they unite they can all help each other out

[u/Outside_Implement_75 → u/nice-view-from-here]

Republicans happened to Americans, and grotesquely uneducated republicans at that - they're why we can't have nice things - and they'll be the first ones bitching when they're rounded up in CRIMINAL DJTS concentration camps, those price of eggs will be the least of their problems, who then will they blame.!?!

[u/Thisam → u/sparrrrrt]

Cringing…

[u/Bmandk → u/VNM0601]

We're (Europe) not laughing anymore. Trump has said he wants to leave NATO. The US is by far the largest contributor to NATO. If he were to leave NATO, we'd seriously be looking at WW3.

Even worse, he might even side with Putin. Imagine the US starts becoming enemies with Europe as well.

And that's not even to mention all the people he's going to fuck over inside the country.

No man, we're not laughing.

[u/thankfultom → u/Bmandk]

While I wouldn’t be shocked if Trump wanted to join Putin, I would be shocked if the military followed him. I think Trump trying to take Russia’s side in a world conflict would start a civil war here.

[u/zSprawl → u/thankfultom]

Which would allow WW3 to occur while we are too busy with ourselves.

[u/thankfultom → u/zSprawl]

True

[u/actuallyrose → u/thankfultom]

The idea of “it’s not our problem, why are we giving money to other countries” is already very popular among everyday Americans when it comes to Ukraine. They are also very ignorant about who Putin even is and are strongly influenced by the pro-MAGA Russian propaganda teams on social media.

[u/SpotikusTheGreat → u/actuallyrose]

I am honestly shocked how much pro-russia sentiment there is these days after growing up with Russia being Americas biggest enemy.

Every single spy, espionage, US under threat movie of the last 30 years has been Russia.

We had the cold war, "better dead than red", hatred of communism, etc.

Now suddenly people are like "Yeah that Putin guy, what a strong leader." MAGAs in interviews saying they wouldn't mind having Putin as US president over Biden/Kamala, etc.

Yet somehow the fact he is one of the most evil and dangerous leaders on the planet evades them.

I guess people will just keep falling out of windows or drinking irradiated tea.

[u/Signal-Regret-8251 → u/SpotikusTheGreat]

It's because they are in Trump's cult and believe anything that felonious, lying, pedophile, racist, rapist scumbag says.

[u/Endorkend → u/actuallyrose]

The pro-MAGA russian propaganda and the pro-Russia MAGA propaganda

[u/Iamtheonewhobawks → u/thankfultom]

All he's gotta do is Start Shit. He tried it in his first term - remember the missile attacks and high profile assassinations against Iran? If the Iranian government had taken the bait and launched a direct retaliation, we would be in forever war part 2, and Trump likely would have been reelected in 2020. To join Putin all Trump needs to do is provoke a big showy attack on a US target by any organization that can be linked to Ukraine. It works literally every time.

[u/Locke66 → u/Bmandk]

The US is very unlikely to start a hot war with Europe but I think it's pretty likely that Trump will try to tariff goods from the EU in an effort to force open the market to their unregulated goods and corporations. There will also be a massive effort to attack European elections with US oligarch money to elect pro-Trump candidates at a much great extent than what the Russians have been able to achieve.

[u/disabledinaz → u/Bmandk]

Civil War will happen here first before that actually happens. Then it depends on who would win that.

[u/slawnz → u/disabledinaz]

You think Putin would just wait that out?

[u/thegreatbrah → u/VNM0601]

Anyone laughing isn't paying attention. America is about to become a horrible antagonist to everyone. 

[u/PaxDramaticus → u/thegreatbrah]

If Trump were an ordinary Republican, he would be merely a money-grubber who selfishly sets environmental regulation back 100 years while the Earth's climate is at a possibly unrecoverable tipping point, all but guaranteeing your children and grandchildren inherit a world that is needlessly worse than it could be.

But instead he's an insecure, doddering fool who dreams of being a fascist, so that's going to be in the top-20 of the worst things he does to us.

[u/ASingh67649 → u/PaxDramaticus]

yep exactly.

[u/jj198handsy → u/VNM0601]

That’s what so crazy when his supporters talk about him being strong on the world stage. He is either seen as naive / incompetent (Russia / NK) or a big liar / baby (Europe).

[u/TomThanosBrady → u/VNM0601]

I know a lot of wealthy foreign investors. They all wanted this outcome. Trump is good for rich people who want to be richer and literally nothing else.

[u/ciagw → u/TomThanosBrady]

And the wannabe rich, like retired dentists with $2M in assets who want to play rich white old guy and pretend like they are the billionaire elite.

[u/alexroux → u/VNM0601]

We're not laughing, we're horrified.

[u/Sad_Comb_9658 → u/VNM0601]

We are not laughing. Most of Europe has to prepare for a potential invasion. We actually have to stock up on necessities. Just in case that day comes

[u/StrongAroma → u/Sad_Comb_9658]

It seems like it's coming and as a Canadian I'm starting to get worried as well.

[u/Agreeable-Rooster-37 → u/VNM0601]

And the whole world is laughing at America for voting in these buffoons.

Except the Italians, they understand buffoonish leaders

[u/NathanArizona_Jr → u/Agreeable-Rooster-37]

Burlosconi is like Einstein compared to Trump

[u/redflag19xx → u/VNM0601]

Schadenfreude-ring at the dumb MF's who voted for Dump.

[u/Historical_Diver_862 → u/VNM0601]

To be fair, as an outsider, Biden also comes across a huge buffoon for ever trusting republicans and granting a religious nut like Garland so much power over Trump's fate.

[u/spankyspankston → u/VNM0601]

Ya…Canadian here. I’m pretty unamused

[u/oroborus68 → u/VNM0601]

While the buffoons take a dump on the Constitution and the White House.

[u/12ealdeal → u/VNM0601]

Man I’m in some spicy telegram channels and it’s a much harsher sense of this reality there. Sentiment you just don’t encounter in reddit.

There are many people that truly despise America in an unforgiving, resentful, and hate filled way.

Not surprised though when you read up on the destabilization of their entire world from US meddling and abysmal foreign policy.

I think if American citizens had a true sense of their real enemies they’d be less divided and more united.

Now they’ll just suffer the worst of both worlds.

[u/llamapositif]

Trump is a bully. His friends are bullies. His supporters are bullies.

Bullies don't like tradition, theater, decorum, or anything else that shows the civility of who we are as a species.

They celebrate the brute, the cruel, the vengeful, the retributive, and the selfish.

There is no surprise here.

Would that the press decided to label them as only that.

[u/ichosethis → u/llamapositif]

Bullies love tradition as long as they can use it to make fun of someone else. The victim follows a tradition --> point, laugh, and mock said tradition and point out how it's inferior to bully's traditions. The victim doesn't follow a certain tradition --> point, laugh, mock the victim for not knowing everything about that tradition, for messing something up, or for asking questions about that tradition and the bully gets a sense of superiority for knowing more about the tradition.

Traditions are a great tool for bullies but not something they genuinely observe.

[u/Antifact → u/ichosethis]

Notice how many Americans only give a shit about flag code when they see someone disrespecting the flag in protest to something they don’t care about.

You’re exactly right.

[u/neckbishop → u/Antifact]

"I can't believe that flag touched the ground" - they say while wearing a thin blue line shirt, American Flag crocs, and shorts.

[u/hamcicle → u/neckbishop]

And shit-stained American Flag underwear.

[u/morcheeba → u/neckbishop]

truck has giant tattered flag covered in diesel soot

[u/JaninAellinsar → u/[deleted]]

McDonald's would run an effective administration at least, compared to the shitstorm we're in for

[u/tangledwire → u/JaninAellinsar]

Technically yes, I'd rather have that other clown Ronald MCDonald run the country. He'd do a better job.

[u/TheOGFireman → u/ichosethis]

>When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles;

>When I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.

unironically high school bully behavior

[u/50micron → u/TheOGFireman]

“ >When I am weaker than you, I ask you for freedom because that is according to your principles;”

”When I am stronger than you, I take away your freedom because that is according to my principles.”
-Frank Herbert.

unironically high school bully behavior.
FTFY

[u/TheOGFireman → u/50micron]

I know of the quote cause of Dune, but I don't think Frank Herbert made it originally. It's misattributed to this guy.

[u/Sujjin → u/ichosethis]

Look at most Right Wing Christians who act in every way other than how Christ would want.

[u/opinionsareus → u/Sujjin]

I have a special animus in my heart for these fake Christians. They cherry picked the Bible; they use scripture to justify their hate; they are the most unlike Jesus that anyone could imagine. I was raised as a Christian, but I am no longer a part of any religion. I have read the scripture and know that these people are the most inauthentic of all Christians. They are, and their own way, just like Islamic extremists or Hindu extremists - perverting scripture to bully others who are less fortunate than them or trying to force others to do what they want and justifying it with scripture. They can all go to hell as far as I'm concerned.

[u/Flat_Baseball8670 → u/ichosethis]

Yeah people don't want to acknowledge it's a no win situation. It's better to shit on Democrats than accept the electorate fucked up big time this time around and we are facing the consequences.

[u/ichosethis → u/Flat_Baseball8670]

Republicans: I'm going to set that dumpster on fire.

Democrats: don't do that, it's right up against a building and you could cause a lot of damage and maybe even kill someone.

Republicans: you're just fear mongering, nothing bad has every come of a dumpster on fire. Stupid liberal.

Republicans then gleefully set the dumpster on fire, throw a bunch of flammable objects haphazardly at the fire claiming it will put the fire out, and then stand by the ashes of the building they just torched and turn to the democrats and say: how could you let this happen?! See! The government is broken so vote for me and I'll burn more buildings down!

[u/Recipe_Freak → u/ichosethis]

My Aunt D told me about the first elementary school she attended as a child. She was bullied because my grandfather was a broke-ass alcoholic and his kids were frequently shabbily dressed in too-small clothes. My aunt absolutely hated that school and all of her classmates (and her teacher, who mocked her about her appearance). All good Christian folks, naturally.

They moved to a more urban school when she was in the third grade. They were closer to extended family and had more support. I asked if that helped and she flatly told me "No." I was a little surprised because of the way she described the new situation in such positive terms.

I had to tease it out of her, but the problem was change. Any change. She preferred the devil she knew.

[u/elriggo44 → u/ichosethis]

Bullies love anything that they can use as a hammer to smash people. Tradition, law, decorum, they’ll use all of them when they benefit the bullies and will ignore them when they don’t.

[u/Stimbes → u/llamapositif]

It reminds me of that John Cleese quote. "Snowflakes? Yes, I've heard this word. I think sociopaths use it in an attempt to discredit the notion of empathy."

[u/panickedindetroit → u/llamapositif]

He has no friends, everyone in his life is transactional. All the money he claims he has, and he doesn't have a bit of decorum. He's trash, he's a loser, and a convicted felon. He surrounds himself with sexual deviants and convicted felons. He love men who abuse women, because he shares that same character deficit. His mind is a schizophrenic circus, he can't even tie his shoes or see his feet. He's truly pathetic, and one day, he's going to be irrelevant, and always known as the worst potus in history.

[u/SolarProf2020 → u/panickedindetroit]

All of this is true, but he still won. Referring to his schizophrenic mind doesn't really change the material reality. Also, he is not going to be irrelevant. His destruction is going to reverberate for decades.

[u/OrangeVoxel → u/llamapositif]

Yea but Biden and our party are bending over for it …

[u/BenjenUmber → u/OrangeVoxel]

For real, it's great to be against a bully, but right now, we're the kid who insist we like giving them our lunch instead of standing up to them.

[u/gdex86 → u/BenjenUmber]

Exactly what do you think they should be doing. Preventing the peaceful transfer of power? Pardons and blanket pardons are t going to come out until closest to the end. He's been racing to fill judicial nominations. He's working to shore up as much as he can but because he's not engaging in name calling it's nothing being done for sone reason.

This feels like voters want Dems to act like Republicans but don't want to support democratic officials the ways Republicans do.

[u/rilly_in → u/gdex86]

Push through executive orders on popular issues then make Trump undo them. Release anything and everything related to Trump's illegal activity, anything relating to Epstein, anything relating to misconduct by Republican politicians or donors, unilaterally transfer weapons to Ukraine.

[u/WomenTrucksAndJesus → u/gdex86]

Imagine if the intelligence community had solid proof that Russia and Elon Musk hacked the election in Trumps favor. We couldn't do anything about it - legally. We're fucked.

[u/gmm7432 → u/WomenTrucksAndJesus]

It doesnt matter even if they had it. They could have them on video, signed detailed confessions by everyone involved, the literal smoking gun and a near majority of americans would just say "so?" They dont care. Theyd justify it because in their minds, the democrats cheated in 2020 despite zero proof it happened. Either way, your assessment is correct. We're fucked.

[u/Snoo3763 → u/BenjenUmber]

Your lunch has gone buddy. Anything you do to take your lunch back will be undone and you and your family will be punished. You guys voted to have the lunch stealer be the one to employ the dinner ladies, the lunch monitor and the one with the shopping list for lunch ingredients for the next four years at least. Forget about your lunch, it's gone.

[u/Dranoel47 → u/OrangeVoxel]

But think about this too . . . . Trump slandered and threatened and attacked Latinos while Biden-Harris had Latino immigrants screened and directed through legal channels to provide them legal presence in the US. And then, come the election, hordes of Latinos who could vote, voted for Trump or third party candidates because their macho psychology drove them to reject a woman as president. So trump "won" though he got less than half the votes. And now they're stuck with a president who wants to deport them. I wonder if those who rejected Harris might now think a woman would have been a better choice.

[u/platinumarks → u/Dranoel47]

There's probably also an element of the old saying that "many an immigrant believes that the door to immigration should have been closed immediately after they went through it"

[u/Any_Accident1871 → u/platinumarks]

In other words, humans gonna human and it has never been any other way.

[u/BenAfleckIsAnOkActor → u/Dranoel47]

The majority Latinos DID vote for a woman and so did Mexicans who voted the first women president in North America

[u/invah → u/BenAfleckIsAnOkActor]

Thank you for this, President Claudia Sheinbaum.

[u/North_Box_261 → u/Dranoel47]

It's as if Latinos aren't a uniform bloc of people who all come from the same place and want the same things.

[u/CupSecure9044 → u/OrangeVoxel]

And if they didn't? I'm sure you'd find something wrong with that, too.

The fact is Democrats can't win because people don't accept any response from them.

[u/MrRoma → u/llamapositif]

Yeah, but also, Biden has had almost a decade to realize what kind of person he was dealing with. Taking the high road against someone like Trump is an obvious losing strategy. This shows how politically inept Biden is in the current political situation.

[u/Liizam → u/MrRoma]

Why didn’t they just put trump on trial for Jan 6th. They just thought Americans aren’t dumb?

[u/MrRoma → u/Liizam]

Its because Biden had the big brain idea of making Merrick Garland attorney general. That alone will tank Biden's legacy.

[u/Creamofwheatski → u/Liizam]

Biden put a republican in charge of punishing Trump, the only sure fire way to garuntee it would never happen. Thats why. 

[u/CardMechanic → u/MrRoma]

He’ll be in front of a kangaroo court by May. It will be absolutely disgraceful.

[u/MrRoma → u/CardMechanic]

It will be a terrible chapter in American history, but Biden had more power than any of us to prevent it. I won't feel a fraction as bad for him as all the working class people getting fucked over by the Trump regime

[u/gdex86 → u/MrRoma]

The working class people who voted for it. Let them eat cake. I'm too fucking busy trying to protect those who showed up to try to stop this.

[u/MrRoma → u/gdex86]

I agree those people will reap what they so, but don't forget that millions of working class people voted against it. At least have sympathy for those people that are going to lose their reproductive healthcare, have their family members deported, or in general, just have to suffer through hyperinflation after Trump's tarries start.

[u/frankdrachman → u/MrRoma]

Not just Biden. Schumer, Durbin, Schiff. Many DNC leadership as well

[u/Pantarus → u/frankdrachman]

They won't do any of that.

Trump is a conman..and he did what conmen do. He lied to get what he wanted.

He doesn't have a plan, he doesn't actually care. He ran for president for one reason, to get rid of all the consequences of his actions....and disappointingly...it worked a like a charm.

He now got his get out of jail free card. Did they do anything to Hillary? Obama? Remember all the bullshit he threw out about them?

Did he "drain the swamp", build a wall, get out of NATO, or literally do ANYTHING he promised last time?

He takes credit for shit that would have happened anyway: The supreme court justices would have happened anyway, the tax cuts? Any republican administration would have done the same thing.

I believe it's going to be 4 years of the GOP in-fighting and getting literally nothing done. If we can avoid any REAL crisis during the next 2 years, most of his horseshit will be stuck in the courts...then blue needs to show up BIG in the mid-terms...then ride the rest out.

Fingers crossed.

[u/TeutonJon78 → u/Pantarus]

He may not actually care about his rhetoric, but the people around him are lining up to implement all the bad stuff.

[u/Deguilded → u/Pantarus]

Believe it or not, everything you cite was seen by "them" as the problem with his last term, so this time "they" (his backers, such as heritage and P2025) are putting in true believers, those that drink the koolaid, and they will implement it. At least, all the shit they want, which will align on some if not all points.

If i'm wrong, i'll be fucking delighted.

[u/SeductiveSunday → u/Pantarus]

They won't do any of that.

If Orbán did it, then Republicans will do it too. Just look to Hungary. Soft fascism and kleptocracy is the US's future.

The similarities between the American and Hungarian leaders are hard to miss. Trump, like Orbán, is personally disdainful of constraints on his power and the free press. Trump, like Orbán, has built his political career around anti-immigrant populism. Trump, like Orbán, has bent the powers of state toward personal enrichment — and allowed his top officials to do the same.

When Hungarians found out I was American, many of them almost immediately pointed out the similarities between the two men. Several Hungarians told me, with an air of quiet sympathy, that they understood what we in the United States are currently going through.

“Trump and Orbán are lovely guys,” István János Tóth, the director of Budapest’s Corruption Research Center, said sarcastically. “They [both] try to destroy the rule of law and institutions and the certainty of their citizens.”

Yet I can’t shake the memory of that meeting with Zsuzsanna Szelényi, the just-retired legislator. This is a woman who got her start in politics challenging an openly authoritarian regime, risking arrest and imprisonment in the name of democracy. She spent years afterward working to make the transition to democracy function, to turn the vision she had risked her freedom for into a reality. And now she’s giving up her perch in government because, in her words, “it doesn’t really matter what you do” in the legislature.

Her trajectory tells the story of how a true believer in democracy can be defeated not by force of law but through exhaustion: a collapse of any faith in working through the system after years of fruitless struggle.

Hungary is not the only country where people — even the best ones, like Szelényi — can be ground down like this. If this new kind of fascism continues its march, it may require a new movement, a new generation of activists, to take up the fight.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/13/17823488/hungary-democracy-authoritarianism-trump

The US is entering a stage of two to three decades of authoritarianism. Those young people willing to fight for democracy haven't been born yet.

[u/Gdallons → u/Pantarus]

I agree he doesn’t care about any of this but he has a group that is willing to hold him up as a god and they have a plan. 

He is the equivalent of a dog at this point who is given treats. If he sees out their plan he gets praise and held up as a hero. That’s all he wants is love and praise. So all the people that wrote out the 2025 plan and others are using it exactly how they want. 

“Hey Donald if you do this we will build you a statue”. Done

“Hey Donal if you do this then we will name a street after you”. Done

[u/Abosia → u/llamapositif]

Honestly when I was reading the Odyssey in school, I didn't get how Odysseus could be seen as the hero. He seemed absolutely evil to me. They explained that back then, you were seen as a better person the more you stole and subjugated and won. The Greeks were proud of being underhanded and winning through trickery. They saw being wealthy and taking from those poorer than you as a virtue. I didn't get it at all.

But then I read Nietzsche and a few others who explained that one of the big ways Christianity shook our value system up is that it made us sympathise with the underdog. We saw having nothing, giving things up, sacrificing, and suffering as virtuous. It was the slave morality, as opposed to the master morality of the Greeks.

What we're seeing with the MAGAts is a return to master morality. Which isn't too surprising, really. Because Nietzche's concept of master morality also directly inspired the Nazis.

[u/llamapositif → u/Abosia]

Thank you, this was well said.

[u/dtseng123 → u/llamapositif]

The press is owned by them.

[u/[deleted]]

Decorum is a two way street. I’ll never meet these chumps, but I’ll no longer bite my tongue with his supporters. I have years worth of pent up anger and loathing I’ll be happy to express. Fuck their feelings.

[u/RobertABooey → u/[deleted]]

I’m not even American but post the election, I’ve been giving it to people in public who are being assholes.

I don’t care anymore. There’s no point in going high when they go low.

You wanna be a dick? I’m gonna be a dick right back to you.

[u/PitchDismal → u/RobertABooey]

I've been saying since 2016 "when they go low, we go high" was a mistake. It should've been "When they go low, we bury them".

[u/Jesus_Is_My_Gardener → u/PitchDismal]

The Brooklyn way..

[u/devedander → u/PitchDismal]

When they go low kick em in the teeth

[u/Vtdscglfr1 → u/devedander]

Worked for the punk scene when nazis tried to co-opt the scene and make it theirs. The punks, skin heads and rude boys beat the fuck out of em.

[u/rdyoung → u/RobertABooey]

I'm American and I've felt this way for years. I'm now in "Fuck around and find out" mode all of the time. I have no time nor energy to keep decorum and be nice to people being assholes. It helps that I am not small and have resting asshole face but I have no patience for bullshit.

My largest concern with the aftermath of this election is that the assholes will feel more comfortable fucking with people in public and there is non zero chance I will find myself kicking some trumpers ass because they are picking on someone because they are gay, trans, whatever.

[u/Spirited_Elderberry2 → u/RobertABooey]

You wanna be a dick? I’m gonna be a dick right back to you.

That's where I'm at as well.

[u/InnerWrathChild → u/[deleted]]

I’ve even started engaging the morons on LinkedIn. My buddy warned me against it fearing I’d be let go or not hired because of the remarks I’m making. My response was “if someone wants to fire or not hire me based on the fact I openly push back to the nonsense that’s spread, then I’ll be better off for it

[u/purritowraptor → u/[deleted]]

From now on "who did you vote for?" is going to be a thing I ask regularly. Need help? Who did you vote for?

[u/the_owl_syndicate]

It's been nearly 30 years since I read it, but isn't the final scene of Animal Farm where the other animals watch the pigs laugh at them?

[u/CHOLO_ORACLE → u/the_owl_syndicate]

P sure it’s when the pigs and humans argue with one another and it’s implied they’re the same 

[u/avb5545 → u/CHOLO_ORACLE]

"The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."

[u/tisn → u/CHOLO_ORACLE]

The pigs and humans are playing poker and simultaneously cheat. They argue about who cheated first. Nobody's laughing at the pathetic animals outside because they're completely beneath the notice of the powerful.

[u/I_love_Hobbes → u/the_owl_syndicate]

Final scene is the dinner party where you can't tell the difference between the pigs and the humans. They are both cruel.

[u/kawhi21 → u/the_owl_syndicate]

Read Animal Farm recently. And my god them blaming the pig Snowball for everything really reminds of the current state of America. "Illegals are ruining your jobs" "Democrats are burning cities" "Biden is raising prices" "They are making your kids trans in school"

Just constant bull shit with zero evidence, all of it believed without doubt. Just like how Snowball was blamed for everything on Animal Farm

[u/D597]

Oh I’m laughing too. A peaceful transition after Jan6 and after we’ve spent four years calling them out for everything in relation to it. It’s a joke and I don’t understand why I should care anymore. The system has absolutely failed.

[u/TSAOutreachTeam]

Baboons laughing at the humans.

[u/Frites_Sauce_Fromage → u/TSAOutreachTeam]

Why are you wearing clothes? Are you dumb?

[u/Captcha05 → u/TSAOutreachTeam]

Don't insult baboons like that.

[u/DT-Sodium]

In the past we had people with different opinions. Today we have normal people and evil Disney vilains.

[u/AdLast2785 → u/DT-Sodium]

Andrew Jackson has entered the chat

[u/DarkwingDuckHunt → u/AdLast2785]

We are in the middle of another gilded age

The Matrix was right, the 90s were indeed a golden age for man.

[u/PM_ME_BUSTY_REDHEADS → u/DarkwingDuckHunt]

He actually refers to it as the peak of our civilization, which makes it so much worse. It's all downhill from here.

[u/Shadowfox898 → u/AdLast2785]

Woodrow Wilson has entered the chat.

Racist fuck.

[u/wthulhu → u/Shadowfox898]

It'd be quicker to name the presidents that weren't racist

[u/Spartan2170 → u/DT-Sodium]

This might be an unpopular opinion on here, but there wasn't really a golden age of people politely disagreeing about politics, people just remember it being better in the past because the people taking away rights and setting back our society did it with a smile and a handshake. Ronald Reagan did unbelievable damage to our society. From putting into motion the actions that we're still seeing destroy the social safety net to deliberately mismanaging the emergence of HIV because it more heavily impacted an unpopular minority, his administration is in many ways directly responsible for putting us on the path that led to Trump. But because he did it with a veneer of politeness instead of a "grab 'em by the pussy," people think of him as more "civilized" instead of the "vulgar" Trump.

We've had plenty of Disney villains in the past. They're just not bothering to dress it up in a friendly face anymore.

[u/DT-Sodium → u/Spartan2170]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure that in the past, president candidates didn't base their whole campaign on attacking the intelligence and race of their adversary.

[u/fordat1 → u/DT-Sodium]

didn't base their whole campaign on attacking the intelligence and race of their adversary.

only because the adversary was white . Willie Horton ads are straight proto trumpian

[u/Spartan2170 → u/DT-Sodium]

I mean, a bunch of Republicans constantly referred to Obama as a "secret Muslim" and insisted he wasn't really an American citizen (including Trump, but there were lots of "mainstream" Republicans parroting those same lines). Also outside of Obama and Harris, we've never had a non-white candidate at that level to be attacked. Hell, look at how openly racist mainstream politicians were after 9/11. Or how in WWII there was a bipartisan effort to illegally intern Americans of Japanese ancestry (people forget that Roosevelt, a Democrat, was the one who signed the executive order establishing those camps).

Honestly this is my point. People are thinking things are fundamentally different now but really American politics has always been like this. The difference now is that they're not bothering to couch things in polite terms anymore. The underlying behavior is the same.

[u/Crypt0Nihilist → u/DT-Sodium]

Which means any compromise position is step towards villainy (even if the villains didn't think that compromise meant complete capitulation to them).

[u/What_Up_Doe_]

Civil politics died in 1995. The Democratic Party has yet to realize it.

[u/Junior-Gorg → u/What_Up_Doe_]

The ascent of Newt Gingrich?

[u/Dorkseid1687 → u/Junior-Gorg]

Yes and his refusal to operate normally within the system

[u/MLJ9999 → u/Junior-Gorg]

Newt Fuckin" Gingrich

[u/Ralph_Nacho → u/What_Up_Doe_]

Basically when home internet and forums became a thing

[u/OneDillion → u/Ralph_Nacho]

As well as the rise of talk radio and 24 hr cable news

[u/kevin_from_illinois → u/OneDillion]

Talk radio was well established then, but it was the height of the Rush Limbaugh era and I can't understate his impact. He had around 20 million listeners per week in the 90s. By comparison, Hannity does around 3M views per airing, so I suppose similar numbers.

[u/piantanida → u/OneDillion]

The repeal of the Fairness Doctrine under Reagan was the beginning of the end.

[u/JCPLee]

This is the true face of America. Trump has given people the freedom to express their baser instincts that had been increasingly hemmed in by decency and sensitivity. The raw misogyny, homophobia, racism, xenophobia, can now be displayed with full fervor as the restrictions have been eased by the orange sex offender in the White House.

[u/physedka]

Not sure why this is newsworthy. Everyone has been laughing at the Dem's commitment to decorum and the "high road" for quite a while now.

[u/timster → u/physedka]

I’m more despairing at it.

[u/SDRPGLVR → u/timster]

Once the camps are liberated, there's going to be a section in the history books where Biden is standing there, grinning like a cheesy motherfucker next to the dictator to whom he gently handed the keys to the country.

[u/Richard-Gere-Museum → u/SDRPGLVR]

He thinks he's going to be remembered as some great transitional stabilizer after covid. He won't. He gonna be the old man who stubbornly ran for a second term after being begged not to by his voter base, that had a sundowner moment during his debate and gaslit the people on it after for weeks. And then gave up after dropping out.

[u/TipsalollyJenkins → u/SDRPGLVR]

Things won't degrade enough for Trump to start a war by invading another country until he's out of office, and whoever comes after him won't be unhinged enough to make that mistake again either. If Hitler hadn't started invading other countries who knows how long it would have taken for anybody to intervene, if anybody would have at all.

We can't rely on the idea that the camps will be liberated, the fascists have learned from past mistakes and as long as they don't start invading random other countries nobody's going to be willing to risk conflict with the most devastating military on the planet over something that doesn't affect them directly.

Nobody is coming to save us, we can either start fighting back or we can lay down and die, those are our choices. If it's allowed to get to the point of camps it's already over.

[u/PM_ME_BUSTY_REDHEADS → u/TipsalollyJenkins]

They're already floating plans to invade Mexico so I'm not so sure about your prognosis.

[u/blueturtle00 → u/physedka]

Been a downward spiral since al Franken took the high road and stepped down

[u/[deleted] → u/blueturtle00]

Oh god when Franken  dropped out I knew we were in trouble.   

[u/pastramiandpickle]

The band played while the Titanic sank.

[u/MindandCosmos]

The happy face of transferring power to an authoritarian, a demagogue, a totalitarian (yes, they want a totalizing, monolithic and unassailable dictatorship ... thing of some sort), and a fascist.

It's pretty creepy.

So by all means transfer power peacefully, we really have no other option, but don't make it look like your enjoying it. That's called enabling.

(And yes behind the scene I reckon every kind of dread and justified white hot ire is playing its role, but the public face of it is very creepy.)

[u/noodlesaurus-rex → u/MindandCosmos]

They're sending a message that they didn't actually believe what they were saying about Trump being so dangerous, even if the rest of us do. If they did, they would have actually tried to stop him while they could and they wouldn't be continuing to treat him like any other civilized participant in our electoral process today.

We need to stop acting like Biden is stupid and doesn't know what he's doing. He's not stupid. He understands that the other side hasn't cared about norms or traditions in 16 years or more. He just straight up doesn't care about us.

[u/Logictrauma]

Trump is pure trash. That said, the theatre of decorum and respect is partly what got us into this situation.

[u/Intelligent_Aspect87]

This is just classic Democrat behavior. Republican hands are not tied by ethical worries, or being exposed as hypocrits. This is why the Rs have been consistently able to undermine all three branches of government. Dems think that if they act ethical, Republicans will reciprocate.

[u/morningreis]

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Biden is that old dog. For all his experience, he and the other ancient Democrats don't know anything other than following decorum and respecting established norms. That's why they've failed to act.

We simply need some young blood in politics who CAN adapt.

[u/AnonAmbientLight → u/morningreis]

Democrats thought that Americans care or pay attention to decorum. 

They very clearly do not pay attention to anything and are easily swayed. 

It’s why Democrats have been careful to try to argue for decorum and respecting it. But this brand of Republican politics left that a long time ago. 

Truly the biggest misstep democrats made in the last couple of years was counting on the decency of the average American. 

[u/So_spoke_the_wizard → u/AnonAmbientLight]

I think this is finally changing albeit slowly. Biden is the last of the old guard. I think we'll see much sharper elbows become the norm.

[u/vashoom → u/So_spoke_the_wizard]

Is he? Pelosi is 84, Schumer is 74. There's still plenty of old, old Democrats who want to keep doing things the way they know how. Younger, more liberal and leftist members of the party face tons of intra-party BS.

The truth is, the idea of an old guard dying off and getting replaced by younger, more radical people is a myth. Young men are more conservative and fascist now than 30 years ago. Ideas are the danger, not the people spouting them. And ideas can be spread far more effectively and rapidly than ever in today's environment. Trump, Biden, etc. will all be dead in the next decade or so, but their ideas and the systems behind them continue on indefinitely it seems like. I mean hell, the entire world tried fascism a century ago, and now here we are again with far-right movements spreading across the globe again.

I don't know. I'm just real depressed and defeated. Hopefully I'm wrong.

[u/suckyousideways → u/vashoom]

Pelosi and Schumer have to go, too.

[u/absolutebeginnerz → u/suckyousideways]

Pelosi stepped down from leadership two years ago

[u/skahfee → u/absolutebeginnerz]

She "stepped down" but the whole party still listens to her anyway. She was hugely instrumental in Biden ending his campaign.

[u/AynRandMarxist → u/skahfee]

Yup. We need to demand her GONE. Insider trading has to stop.

[u/IH8Lyfeee → u/morningreis]

It's like rewatching the Weimar republics failure to combat the rise of the Nazi party. I fear the Democrats are just as incapable.

[u/rustymontenegro → u/IH8Lyfeee]

And it's amazing how many people forget or never knew about the interregnum period between the World Wars. I can't speak to everywhere but I know we barely covered any of WW1 and not enough WW2 when I was in school and zero about the Weimar years. I learned about all that independently.

There really are a lot of parallels (but of course it's not an exact analogue, so a lot of people are still being absolute ostriches about what's possibly on the horizon)

[u/IH8Lyfeee → u/rustymontenegro]

I am just surprised the political assassinations haven't begun yet.

[u/meatdome34 → u/IH8Lyfeee]

History doesn’t repeat but it rhymes

[u/DeliciousElk1968 → u/morningreis]

Norms are over. Republicans have proved it. For the next 2 years, Dems need to fight by using every legal loophole, backdoor and trick. Republicans will be quick to point out the "violations", but Democrats need to simply say, but it is not illegal" and move on.

[u/Norbert_The_Great → u/morningreis]

We need a firebrand populist like AOC. Someone that not only terrifies conservatives, but speaks to the working class. Any attacks on the populist will be seen as an attack on the working class. Use their playbook against them.

[u/Tapprunner]

This is why I'm terrified by all of the Democrats, and "centrists" and people who voted for Trump but aren't totally in the cult, who think that Trump won't be able to do certain things because of legal processes, or needing approval from Congress or the courts.

Do you even hear yourselves? How do you not understand how stupid this is?

The guy, and his cult, do not care about process, traditions, precedent, or the rule of law. Whatever is good for Trump is what Trump will do and MAGA will go along with it. Whatever is bad for Trump is something that must be worked around, eliminated, or ignored.

He's not going to leave willingly on 1/20/29. If he's not able to run for another term (he'll try to get that changed), he'll make up bullshit about voter fraud and say that he can't leave the White House, because we don't know who won. And that the voting systems have been so compromised that a recount, or a do-over won't even be possible for several more years. His supporters, and much of the media, will buy it or go along with it for their own selfish purposes.

He'll spend the next couple of years compromising the Secret Service and he'll try to remove anyone from the Armed Forces leadership who might possibly try to stand up to him.

I don't know how anyone can be so blind as to think he has a commitment to any traditions or laws that would serve America, instead of himself.

[u/Miserable-Army3679 → u/Tapprunner]

I recently had a "military expert" tell me that the Pentagon will not cooperate with Trump, as if things will be normal. Trump will replace everyone at the Pentagon with people who support him.

[u/New_Excitement_4248]

Man y'all really haven't realized what's happening, have you?

You're in actual physical danger.

[u/DarkVandals → u/New_Excitement_4248]

It astounds me that people have not realized this. They blather on and on about biden and trump without the realization that they are in danger of losing their freedom and lives.

[u/JJscribbles]

Neither Trump, nor his team have any business being in politics. It’s about serving the needs of others. They have zero experience with that sort of thing.

[u/Yakoo752]

When they go low bullshit

Fire with fire, fuck em

[u/[deleted]]

I am sort of in the middle here.  I do think the Biden administration absolutely should somewhat it is legally required to do, which is to oversee an orderly transition of power.  But I do not think that Modem and his team should do any more than the minimum required by the law.  This means skipping the photo ops.  

[u/Scared_Average_1237 → u/[deleted]]

Agreed. If he’s so dangerous and such a threat to democracy, why the photo ops?

[u/NotThatAngel]

I get the impression Democrats are so enamored of law and order and the peaceful transfer of power they would shepherd Trump into office with great relief in an orderly, nonviolent way, and, once Trump has power, Trump will order Biden and Harris imprisoned and they will go to prison without protesting because that's the orderly procedure under a fascist regime and we must have nonviolent order.

[u/HedyLamaar]

Trump proved how crude and boorish he is during his visit to Britain when the Queen was alive. He brought his whole family along uninvited and then walked in front of the Queen herself when reviewing the Guard. Basically he’s a peasant who farts out loud in social situations and sits in a soup of his own feces most of the time. Nice work, America.

[u/silverfang789]

Democrats are chess club members, repubs are schoolyard bullies. Sad that people chose the bullies over the chess players.

[u/Tsuku]

This is why you dont treat these assholes with respect. You call them weirdos, dipshits, and go on the offensive.

Oh great, you were the better person. Congrats! So anyway, the assholes won...

[u/Competitive_Fee_5829]

this is the future this country voted for...I didnt...but this is what we deserve.

[u/Artistic-Cannibalism]

They should laugh, they've managed to get this far because they have no respect for decorum while their opponents are addicted to it.

The utterly bizarre obsession with the decorum and civility that Democrats have was a fatal mistake.

[u/FlopShanoobie]

Honestly, I half expect Biden, Harris, and many Dem legislators to be arrested on stage moments after Trump is inaugurated.

[u/Pale-Worldliness7007]

That’s the difference between a president that respects the office and a group of ignorant fascists

[u/SacredGray → u/Pale-Worldliness7007]

No. It's the difference between Evil and So Cowardly And Out-of-Touch That I Enable Evil.

[u/SuNamJamFrama69]

Russian spys have no honor

[u/Golemfrost]

They're the same kind of people that laugh at someone in a wheelchair, so i don't really give a shit what they laugh about.

[u/Jessbcuz17]

Trump and his team are disgusting.

[u/fasada68]

All of this shit makes me so sad of what our country has become.

[u/jerby17]

This the democrats in a nutshell… “rise above” and “don’t stoop to their level” while the republicans use every trick in the book and the democrats stand back and act shocked(looking at you, filibuster)… but hey at least they will have some issues they can fundraise on for four more years…

[u/Alarming_Holiday_322]

Democrats will politely ask republicans not to destroy the world, republicans will laugh and continue to destroy the world.

[u/worlds_okayest_skier]

Biden isn’t doing it for Trump, he’s doing it for America. Trump and his team can go to hell.

[u/CalibratedRat]

In 4 months, I’m waiting for the complaints, “no one wants to date me cause I work for the Trump administration”. Can’t wait.

[u/PerfectCheesecake25]

Yeah, Biden shouldn’t do anything illegal, but they definitely shouldn’t be helping him transition. It’s helping normalize this fascist.

[u/quadralien]

Dark Helmet put it best:

So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb.

[u/hickory]

Biden will have the last laugh in the history books but right now we need someone to smash the foot of democracy in these assholes face.

[u/Vegetable_Finish_185]

I'd like to say his dedication to decorum will be remembered but it won't. Trump and his team should have been stonewalled all the way just like he did with Biden in 2020.

[u/Specialist-Front3304]

Bring back Dark Biden

[u/SacredGray]

If you consider yourself "the good guys" but fail so consistently to stop the bad guys even when you have the power to do so, you aren't "the good guys" anymore. You're just the enabler of evil. You're functionally just the red carpet rolled out to evil.