It’s not alarmist: A second Trump term really is an extinction-level threat to democracy
No, it is not an extinction-level threat to democracy. We have plenty of democracy in the rest of the western world, thank you very much. A second Trump term would be a huge threat to US democracy though. But that’s not what this headline implies. Extinct means gone forever, from everywhere. That’s simply not the case. I’m tired of Americans forgetting that there’s a world outside their borders.
Why do people make comments only on the headline without reading the article and commenting on that? The article *specifically refers to *“American democracy”. It then goes on to reference other specific democracies for comparison.
Headlines shorten things and usually aren’t written by the person who wrote the article anyway; they sometimes don’t even reflect the article contents accurately. If you don’t want to read the article, fine, but please don’t make comments based only on the headline.
I’m commenting on the headline, not the article. I’m allowed to do that.
I think he’s a symptom of a much larger disease. The people behind him, the evangelicals, non college educated whites, the climate change deniers, the industrialists who fight every regulation, the behind closed doors racists. These are the democracy extinction harbingers.
I’ve been saying for a while, George W. Bush is the one who took the door off its hinges and sold it, Trump is just the inevitable crackhead who walked in and started living in the kitchen.
Or it could be regular family people that are sick of seeing their taxes going to countries not even in NATO. Or the fact that the inflation during this administration has American choosing food or medicine. Or the fact that during this administration housing has become only a dream. Or the facts that the current administration opened the boarder to bring cheap labor to replace us. Yeah great current administration!
You can do all that stuff and still not support a racist asshole
Or it could be regular family people that are sick of seeing their taxes going to countries not even in NATO.
I thought republicans didn’t even like NATO, what’s the butthurt about this?
Or the fact that the inflation during this administration has American choosing food or medicine.
We had to choose that long before this administration. The primary source of inflation is corporate greed and the top 0.1% demanding more from the rest of us, while paying less themselves, a position they only get away with because of conservatives.
Or the fact that during this administration housing has become only a dream.
Because there are no penalties or dis-incentives for corporations not to buy up all the land and houses. Every time we try to impose such rules, it gets shot down by republicans.
Or the facts that the current administration opened the boarder to bring cheap labor to replace us.
Border. Also, the implied violence and expulsion against undocumented workers is what enables employers to pay them such a cheap wage and enforce abysmal working conditions on them. The correct solution is to provide an easy path for work visas, and heavily penalize companies for hiring undocumented workers. You’ll never guess who is against doing that though…
Your comment is peak “stick in bicycle” meme.
Im not a republican!
Food prices inflated during the current administration, food was super affordable. What did Biden do to try and control inflation? Nothing could care less.
Again housing was affordable during the trump administration its not affordable anymore and if the dems win housing will just continue to be un affordable. Its been 4 years and they have done nothing!
They opened the boarder to replace you open your eyes man. No body does anything out of the kindness of their hearts.
You voting for this current mess is the bicycle meme lol
Im not a republican!
Press ‘X’ to doubt.
Food prices inflated during the current administration, food was super affordable. What did Biden do to try and control inflation? Nothing could care less.
Which grocery company does Biden run where he can decide to reduce the prices?
Again housing was affordable during the trump administration its not affordable anymore and if the dems win housing will just continue to be un affordable. Its been 4 years and they have done nothing!
As someone who had to look for housing 3 times during Trump’s administration: no, it wasn’t affordable.
They opened the boarder to replace you open your eyes man.
Who is “They”?
No body does anything out of the kindness of their hearts.
No shit. Is that why you are voting for the orange fascist?
Then dont assume right and whats the point of assuming? I correct you and you still doubt it lol ok I see why you want to vote for “Them”.
Which grocery store does trump own cause he had way better prices.
But you found a home now its unaffordable 80% increase in the last 4 years. Thanks Biden you the best!
They are them!
Im voting for my interest not against it!
Who is “They” again?
Grocery prices were “good” during the end of the trump admin because grocery purchases were waaaay down during the global pandemic. Are you saying you’d prefer a global pandemic to paying hiked up prices for eggs?
I actually bought my first home this year, whaddya know.
Medicine? You mean like those handled by Obamacare which Trump wants to get rid of? From my understanding that was a huge change (here in Australia we have Medicare which is life changing and similar)
Also, if you’re getting replaced by people from another country (who have a huge disadvantage), I’d argue maybe you need to work on improving yourself.
That being said, she’s also increasing the minimum wage and taxing the rich more (whilst reducing tax for middle class and poor). So even minimum wage people are hugely better off.
Trumps bs has caused issues internationally, even here in Australia. I don’t think you realise how much he is fucking things up for normal people worldwide
Worry about Australia don’t worry about a country you cant vote on or live in.
If Trump wins, I’d be happy to have political refugees from the US personally
And it actually affects us too. All Trump’s shitty racism, bigotry, anti vaccine agenda is being reinforced worldwide because he’s an idiot. And he’s showing our absolutely crap political parties what they can get away with (and they’re using him as an example).
For our military, don’t forget, he’s giving away confidential military secrets too (I have a friend in the military, and he is putting her at risk).
This is bigger than the US. It doesn’t affect me as much, but i also have friends in the US
Also I’m fairly sure I could get a job in the US and residency if i wanted
sick of seeing their taxes going to countries not even in NATO.
This misconception needs to be corrected.
The tax dollars go to America’s milliary industrial complex. It’s their surplus (which is already budgeted and paid for by the American government) that is sent overseas. No tax dollars leave the USA.
“Israel has also historically been permitted to use a portion of its FMF aid to buy equipment from Israeli defense firms—a benefit not granted to other recipients of U.S. military aid”
Good point. Although one could argue that Israeli defence firms are part of the US military industrial complex.
Forgot money grows on trees! Its still spending our tax dollars thats what I said. I got a crazy idea how about putting that into education or infrastructure. The american people are getting taken advantage any way you try and paint it. Israel has free healthcare and education and they are not part of NATO. They can fund their own genocide!
I don’t disagree, but the Military Industrial Complex is enabled and funded by both the Republicans and the Democrats. Nothing will stop your tax dollars flowing to it.
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Trump was already president and it was the best 4 years for Americans. Everything started to suck when Biden became president and Trump warned us that this would happen. Prices for everything inflated homes are only for huge corps to purchase yeah great great administration. They were better under trump and thats a fact. I’m not looking to make history with a women president I’m looking to make money for my future self and family.
This take is so incredibly bad I’m almost thinking that you’re a troll. “Everything was good under Trump 😊” -> “Everything was bad under Biden 😡” therefore Trump good, Biden bad is probably the most juvenile and pathetic logical fallacy that persists in our shared political thought. I’m not sure if you remember, but there was a little thing called COVID that happened which shocked supply lines, trade, took a huge toll on our collective mental health, and created an economic crisis. Acting like Biden caused that is so ridiculous, I have a hard time believing that even you believe that.
You could argue that Biden handled the recovery poorly (and I don’t think that’s a bad argument), but then you’d have to compare it with how Trump would have handled such a recovery – something we really don’t know. Given his contempt for the working class it is doubtful it would be any better, and there was plenty of room for it to be actively worse.
Im going by past experience and the Trump administration was better for the American people. Shit sucks right now and it will continue this way with the current administration.
Are you completely sure ? Why is Elmo endorsing Trump? Aint he a big corp fraternity member? Has he still paid the pledge members who signed it?
The ‘everything started to suck’ came with COVID, not with a presidential administration. To the extent that inflation and everything ultimately got away from us, that started mostly under Trump’s watch, but even then I don’t think I can blame Trump for the bad economy stuff, except maybe the degree to which he escalated trade war with China, but Biden has been happy to continue it. I don’t see Trump or the GOP willing to go against those huge corps for the sake of the common man, generally I see quite the opposite.
We cant tell the future, Im going by the past and what I experienced during the Trump administration.
In the kind of world you’re trying to usher in, your money isn’t going to save you.
They have you believing that trump will be like a putin. This isn’t Russia!
Who is “they”? I’m coming to my own conclusions.
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Shhhh. Some folks are reading the article.
No one who listens to a wide range of news sources and gets a balanced perspective talks like this. If you agree with this you need to branch out and challenge yourself with different world views, even if it is difficult for you.
The thing is with the wide range of news sources, the two sides of ‘Does Trump and his close associates want to undermine democracy or not’ tends to boil down to:
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Yes, and here’s a long list of concrete quotes and activities directly from Trump and his associates that explicitly declare their intent, including recordings.
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Nuh-uh, the liberals!
Trump specifically wants an autocracy and has attracted like-minded folks who would want to advance that concept to their own purposes after Trump dies. The potentially more sane parts of the republican party have decided to ostracize those willing to stand up and object to Trump, notably including Romney and Cheney. Now that he’s stepping down, even Mitch McConnell seems to be corroborating accounts that, privately, he thought Trump needed to go.
He’s not a nuanced man and he has always been a megalomaniac that has always undermined everything around him if it meant he got a little ahead personally. I don’t understand how anyone can continue to give him the benefit of the doubt.
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ITT: small, removed country thinks it’s elections matter even slightly to the rest of the world.
Chomsky was right when he properly pointed out that Republicans are the biggest threat to the world.
Donnie is merely a symptom. No Republicans ever should be allowed to hold any office.
I would argue that the Republicans are a symptom as well, the whole USA democratic structure will only enable a 2-party system. The whole systemic structure is rotten.
American democracy, anyways.
If only democracy was a thing in many, many other countries across the globe.
Oh well - don’t let us down, America.
I made these pictures because I don’t think that arguments like “Trump is a threat to democracy” are something his supporters agree with. Maybe people could share these things in groups they know in these last couple days before the election.
Their goto response to things like this is, “Even the devil can quote scripture - nice try, Satan.”
Really? Because I recall the first woman hung in Salem for witchcraft was hung because being unable to say the Lord’s prayer in english(she spoke gaelic) means you’re a witch.
I wonder which one is canonically correct? Can the devil say bible words or not? Or is it specifically the lords prayer? Because if that’s it then we can prove we ARENT the devil.
I hate religious rhetoric so much. My brain hurts now trying to make it make sense.
it’s an extinction level event for a lot of things. we’re already out of time on so many important issues. every living creature on this earth should consider him a threat. we are in self defense mode, or at least we should be. sadly, most of you don’t seem to understand how dire the situation really is.
but whatever. stick your head back in the sand i guess.
What exactly are you going to do about it? Seriously list out the specific measures you’re taking.
Well start by voting. Vote local, vote often and make your voice heard. Then maybe try to reduce your carbon footprint. You really need a cultural shift for this to be effective. Yes yes I know businesses are the major polluters so I revert back to sentence one, vote, and continue to try to shift the culture to a more renewable one
Ok, I vote in every single election, including every primary. I drive seldom, use public transportation often, eat meat only twice a week, and encourage other people to adopt socially and environmentally forward beliefs.
Do you really think this is enough? I don’t, but there is only so much one person can do.
Are you ready to take the fight to the streets? Because that’s likely what it’ll come down to. Voting won’t save you. The constitution is only a flimsy piece of paper. Start organizing now.
The civil servant job thing is an insurance plan disguised as job security. It would enable Trump to fill the bureaucracy with loyal stooges who will keep doing his bidding during the next administration - like his House cronies did when he told them not to pass the bipartisan border security bill so he could use the border as his main campaign issue.
His appointees from the last go round are already still fucking things up. If you’ve tried to interact with the legal system or any regulatory agency, there basically is none. For everything from DHS to FOIA, the government is and has not functioning in many southern states.
For those who disagree, simply read about Spain, Italy, Germany, and Japan during the 1930’s. Furthermore, the Electoral College should be shut down.
Nee nee UNS passiert das nicht. Wir haben das unter Kontrolle.
The politics in Germany better remain under control. If the fucking AfD took power, all of our neighbors, with exception the fucking Austrians and Swiss, would invade our asses.
And still even there you can see the right in rise of power. But yes. Germany is under scrutiny.
I just posted that as popular last words before things go sideways with a hint of sarcasm.
I honestly don’t understand why we talk about eliminating the Electoral College when it literally requires some states to vote in favor of giving up their own power. In what economy of incentives is this even possible?
The most likely path at this point is the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, a collection of state legislative measures, state constitutional amendments, etc. aimed at using the electoral college against itself. The very short tldr is once >=270 electoral votes worth of states have passed something enacting it, all those states’ delegates will vote in line with the national popular vote regardless of how their individual state votes, forcing the popular vote winner to be president.
Whether or not it’ll survive judicial challenge if/when it gets to >=270 electoral votes worth of states is entirely unclear. In theory, there’s nothing they should be able to do about it, but SCOTUS has shown time and time again it doesn’t actually give a fuck about the constitution.
Colle
The problem isn’t that states have disproportionate power, and moreover the NPVC is a poor solution. The problem is that all but two states allocate their delegates in a winner-take-all manner, so that a candidate with only 51% of the vote gets all of the delegates.
The NPVC requires huge buy in to work because in nearly half of cases it doesn’t result it a person’s voting power represening their actual vote. Thus, no individual citizen has incentive to support it. If it ever gets enough support to take effect, as soon as a state ends up with its delegates going to a candidate the citizens of that state didn’t vote for, they’ll repeal it and it will end nationally due to the wording of the law.
The solution is for states to allocate delegates proportionally to the votes of its citizens. That’s what voting is all about. If that system were in place, then there would have been no elections with a mismatch between the college and popular vote. Every citizen has individual incentive for that system, more so than the current system or NPVC, and therefore you don’t need the group buy-in wording that the NPVC has. It can be achieved on a state-by-state basis, and it would only need a few states to operate this way to have an impact.
Someone is going to point out that there are details and some states want to be fought over for their small percentage to swing the state, but the fact is that this solves the problem, and overwhelmingly this has fewer barriers and weakenesses than NPVC. If you care about this, contact your state government to change how delgates are allocated.
It doesn’t require the handful of swing states to be onboard. It just requires the heavy hitters which are largely marginalized by the electoral college and some of the smaller deep left or right states which are also made pretty irrelevant in terms of campaigning even if they get a bit more influence
A second Trump term really is an extinction-level threat to democracy worldwide, not just in United States. Considering that Trump and his supporters promise an isolationist policy, all sorts of predatory authoritarian and totalitarian regimes will suddenly feel like they can do anything - and this will start happening all over the world.
Nope.
Yup.
Didn’t matter last time, won’t matter this time.
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Just curious as a non US citizen: why do you believe Trump is better than Kamala? Just objectively curious.
I don’t think they believe that at all. My guess is that they feel the opposite way.
Well my reply was wasn’t meant to appear under this comment, that’s why I deleted it.
I would literally prefer a steaming pile of shit as president than Trump.
If American democracy elects Trump, then your version of it has already failed.
The fact he’s a consideration for the presidency again means we’re already broken beyond repair, he’d just be the tombstone.
We’ll have fascists shoot Americans in the street and fully protected by the law (and not just the cops who do it) before we ever have a candidate who can give us Universal Healthcare and a better minimum wage.
A wake up call to fix the Democracy was in 2000, and we did nothing. We all ignored our complaints when 9/11 happened, and then did nothing when Trump won in 2016.
I’d argue here that right next to Trump, it is the electoral college. But, as Americans can’t do anything to change their electoral system, they are probably already owned. If it isn’t Trump, it will be another Trump-like candidate, whether Republican or Democrat.
There is actually little daylight between Biden and Trump on an international level. The real difference is between the parties. If you’re American I can 100% understand why you’d never want the GOP anywhere near education, healthcare, climate policy etc. Their religious zealotry, genocidal inclinations towards Muslims (which is present but far more muted among Dems), racial antipathy and paranoia of black people and anti-intellectualism are a recipe for national decline and unrestrained global abuse of non-white, non-Christian peoples.
The Democrats have a neoconservative problem which also threatens the entire world. But sadly the responsible and sensible side of America is stuck with them.
Isn’t Trump like super isolationist? Ask a Ukrainian who they prefer to win and I think they’ll have a pretty consistent answer.
To claim Trump is “isolationist” in 2016 is one. To claim it in 2024 is simply denying the facts. Trump was and remains not that much different to Biden on international policy. The key difference is diplomacy. Trump fails at diplomacy while keeping within many of the same policies.
There is a reason that Biden foreign policy has doubled down or refused to undo Trump era policies that Democrats considered to be mistakes, like leaving the JCPOA, playing around with Taiwan ambiguities, enabling Israeli liquidation of a nascent Palestinian state, etc.
I get the impression that Harris plans to drag out the war in Ukraine with continued US support while Trump plans to end it quickly by withholding support. That’s a consequential difference as far as I’m concerned. If Trump were in charge now I expect we’d already be at war with Iran. Remember when he had Soleimani killed in 2020? I don’t think he’d be nearly as reluctant about supporting Israel if he were in charge. I agree that Taiwan is a powder keg, but I’m not sure what we should be doing differently there - curious what you’re getting at there.
Does the Dems have an issue with Neocons? I can agree with that.
But I prefer the side that at least supports NATO and our allies. I prefer the side that at least doesn’t lavish praise to dictators on a regular basis.
Say what you want about Neocons, it is telling when we have Dick Cheney and John Bolton saying that Trump is dangerous. I will hold my nose and thank them for helping to get Harris elected to preserve the democracy we have.
Sorry, no, there is a huge difference between MAGA Republicans and the Dems (and Neocons) on foreign policy.
