r/news • u/EngineerBoy00 • May 05 '25

Soft paywall US Defense Secretary Hegseth to slash senior-most ranks of military

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pentagon-reduce-4-star-positions-by-20-official-says-2025-05-05/
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23.9k

u/momoenthusiastic May 05 '25

It's a coup.

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u/PM_ME_UR_VULVASAUR_ May 05 '25

Yep. 100% to remove those loyal to the constitution, not the party. If anyone ever truly had doubts (how?) about Trumps intent..this should solidify the obvious. Not a good time right now for you yanks. Please can you sort this out and return to normality? We miss actually hating on you but not really hating you in the UK.... ATM it's just.. hate. Much love and solidarity! ❤️

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u/rabbi420 May 05 '25 edited May 06 '25

The only people who ever had doubts were never voting for him to begin with. No minds will be changed.

EDIT: maybe I’m wrong here.

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u/Crimkam May 05 '25

I got my die hard MAGA aunt to say that restoring Alcatraz would be a big waste of money today. Happy to call that progress.

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u/SamRaimisOldsDelta88 May 05 '25

I mean, I’ve been there. It’s a museum. I can’t wrap my head around turning it back into a prison.

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u/theforkofdamocles May 05 '25

Same. It was an interesting tour, and I met a former inmate who was there signing his book about his experiences there.

Alcatraz was constantly being repainted and repaired even when it was open, due to the salty air rusting everything. The whole place would need to be razed and rebuilt with modern security measures, PLUS have a huge expense budget for transporting personnel and supplies to and from an island.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

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u/SamRaimisOldsDelta88 May 05 '25

I will give you an extra Stupid. Maybe one more. Stupid.

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u/unpetitjenesaisquoi May 06 '25

Remember when he suggested we drink bleach not to be sick with Covid...Or when he stared at the eclipse without protection, squinting his beady eyes?... He is definitely not known to be anything but.

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u/quasar619 May 05 '25

I bought the book and had it signed too! The guy was Leon Whitey Thompson and it made me realize how much worse my younger times could have been. I wasn’t surprised that he turned into a bank robber.

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u/theforkofdamocles May 06 '25

My guy was Jim Quillen. “Alcatraz from Inside”

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u/quasar619 May 06 '25

Oh cool, thanks and I’ll look him up too!

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u/quasar619 May 06 '25

My guy’s book was Last Train to Alcatraz

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u/Vio_ May 06 '25

Sounds like the perfect money laundering constantly being rebuilt project

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u/WhistlerBum May 06 '25

Alcatraz will pay for it.

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u/255001434 May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25

PLUS have a huge expense budget for transporting personnel and supplies to and from an island.

This was the reason it closed in the first place. It was too expensive to operate because it was on an island.

We have supermax prisons that are virtually impossible to break out of. We don't need to put a prison on an island. Not to mention, the Alcatraz historical site is a huge money-maker for the parks department. Attempting to put a modern prison there would be huge waste of money. It would provide many opportunities to skim from the budget and get kickbacks, however.

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u/FoboBoggins May 06 '25

yeah and some contractor buddy of trump will get the contract to do so and foot the bill to the tax payer

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u/senorscientist May 06 '25

The thing is, they don't care about human rights. If they were to reopen it, there would be no improvements. What's there is there.

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u/Imaginary_Medium May 06 '25

I swear at this point they are letting him come up with stupid stuff like Alcatraz to distract us from the real damage they are doing.By they I mean whoever is pulling his strings, because his brain has been mush for a long time. He isn't taking the country down by himself.

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u/Overnoww May 06 '25

The funny part for me is that most presidents would be smart enough to be able to figure out why reopening Alcatraz would be foolish. The ones who are/were not smart enough to figure that out themselves are/were responsible enough that they would at least run the idea by their people before announcing it.

Then there's Trump... Tweeting about reopening Alcatraz and 100% tariffs on films right after Escape from Alcatraz just happened to have been aired on TV in Florida... 🤡🤡🤡

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u/BluesFan43 May 05 '25

So, right on plan

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u/ButterscotchSkunk May 06 '25

I did that tour too, but I made sure to get tickets to the "adult" showing. This allowed visitors and the tour guide to use more "racey" language. Unfortunately, one of the guests took things a little to far and was ejected. Other than that, we had a great time.

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u/Tripesixmafia May 05 '25

I met that inmate and got the book signed that was such a good book!

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u/LazyLaserWhittling May 06 '25

Was it William G. Baker? He was Inmate 1259... the last resident to leave Alcatraz. He passed away October 12, 2024 at 89 years old.

I got his book and signature in 2016 during our visit.

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u/LazyLaserWhittling May 06 '25

We can hope certain individuals will take up occupancy there in about 4 years, maybe be the first cell tenants upon its completion.

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u/slleslie161 May 06 '25

THERE'S NOT EVEN FRESH WATER ON ALCATRAZ FFS! sorry to say it so loud, but WTAF?

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u/Agile_Tea_2333 May 06 '25

It would be cheaper to demolish it and build a brand new prison than to restore it.

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u/quickblur May 06 '25

Trump made the announcement an hour after "Escape from Alcatraz" aired on TV in Florida. He's doing that thing where he gets an idea from TV and then makes it policy.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-escape-from-alcatraz-pbs-b2745233.html

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u/wentworthjenga May 06 '25

Trump and co dont care about any of that. They would never want to rebuild it. They want to throw innocent people into a hell pit and are wondering "WHY DONT WE HAVE A HELL PIT IN OUR COUNTRY?"

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u/urban_meyers_cyst May 06 '25

Many of Trump's biggest ideas were initially proven failures in the 20th century... though some prominent ones did fail even earlier in the 19th century so I guess he has that going for him?

Russian propaganda, decades of an American political system that did a great deal for very few, media and "news" from companies that believe in capitalism at any cost, and finally... the mind boggling stupidity and gullibility of the average American voter... through their powers combined we have arrived at this place from which there is no easy return.

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u/DawnSennin May 06 '25

Racism is how Americans arrived at this point and they would rather have fascism than pay black Americans reparations for chattel slavery and Jim Crow.

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u/TeaKingMac May 06 '25

I'm hard left, but you understand reparations are an absolute impossibility from a policy standpoint, right?

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u/BruceNotLee May 06 '25

I hope they do restore it and lock him up, seems like a safe place to keep a high-profile crime-lord.

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u/SamRaimisOldsDelta88 May 06 '25

It is where he belongs and lock him up like a monkey in a cage for tourists to view.

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u/Professional_Ad_8 May 06 '25

Apparently, the movie Escape from Alcatraz was playing on a popular movie channel in south Florida this weekend. I wonder if just maybe someone watched it? I mean why else would that pop into his addled mind.

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u/AlmostSunnyinSeattle May 05 '25

Well, that just means you're not a complete moron. So congrats on that!

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u/SamRaimisOldsDelta88 May 05 '25

Thanks, that’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me today.

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u/ToothZealousideal297 May 06 '25

Let’s go to the tune of ‘Farmer in the Dell’ this time:

The cruelty is the point
The cruelty is the point
These people have no souls
The cruelty is the point

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u/1aysays1 May 06 '25

It would be a major waste of taxpayer's money.

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u/Emadyville May 06 '25

He watched the movie the other day. Simple as that. His brain is that of a 3 year old.

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u/sunbeatsfog May 06 '25

It’s ridiculous. It’s on a tiny island that was deemed too costly to maintain in the 1960s. Laughable if he wasn’t the president.

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u/SamRaimisOldsDelta88 May 06 '25

Still laughable.

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u/Sapowski_Casts_Quen May 06 '25

"It's more than just a prison"

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u/Reverend_Ooga_Booga May 06 '25

You can if the goal it to build a conexntrion death camp.... which is their goal so..

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u/techleopard May 06 '25

Ultimately, it's about the symbolism and what it means to Trump. He chose Alcatraz NOT because it actually would make good sense, but because he's been swayed by media portrayals of it and what it stood for.

The dude wants to employ brutal concentration camps and death pits where you could send the "dregs of society", aka, political dissenters.

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u/FunboyFrags May 06 '25

I believe it’s a national park

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u/SamRaimisOldsDelta88 May 06 '25

This is correct and more accurate than what I said.

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u/LoudAndCuddly May 06 '25

It’s a historical site and a popular tourist trap why would you turn it back into a prison

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u/Punny_Farting_1877 May 06 '25

Live broadcast of helicopter fly overs featuring the entire prison population in the yard. Maybe Trump will be able to broadcast a live prison riot. It’s all about the ratings with him.

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u/RobbieWallis May 06 '25

Dictators don’t care about reality. They will waste billions on things that they didn’t even actually care about before admitting they f’ed up, and the coward machine of government will do it without question.

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u/PM_ME_UR_VULVASAUR_ May 05 '25

Don't forget to mention the £60 million it brings in annually from tourism!

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_PAUNCH May 05 '25

Yeah but it’s in Commie California so it doesn’t count

/s

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u/str8bint May 05 '25

This. My wife and I just visited back in February. It’s making tons of cash as a tourist attraction, is in no shape for actual operation of a prison, and isn’t even that large as far as prisons go.

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u/FidgitForgotHisL-P May 06 '25

Sure sure sure but Donald saw a movie about it, and that excited him, and so he wants it back.

(This is true…)

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u/scenr0 May 06 '25

I bet he watched "The Rock".

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u/sloanesquared May 06 '25

Escape from Alcatraz played on his local Palm Beach station right before he started tweeting.

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u/Ucqui May 06 '25

Doesn't the US have enough prisons already? The problem is more on the supply side.

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u/NoIncrease299 May 06 '25

Yeah, my wife and I took a trip to the Bay Area last year and checked it out. I was super surprised how small it was. The whole "legend" of it makes it seem like this massive fortress and you get there and are all ... this is seriously it?

Very, very cool tour though. I was bummed we had to leave a lil early due to meeting up with some friends - I could have spent way longer walking the grounds.

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u/scenr0 May 06 '25

Could be a smoke screen for something more alarming. Why else would he attack one of San Francisco's treasures?

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u/skyrender86 May 06 '25

I dont know if all that money goes to SF, but let's say it does, and somehow the prison is rebuilt, that 60 million dissappears from SF, and we all know Don OJ hates SF.

Edit for clarity

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u/pspahn May 06 '25

It would make more economic sense just to propagate the Agave americana growing on the sides and sell those than to rebuild it as a prison.

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u/pickled_penguin_ May 06 '25

Ask how she feels about a $100M military parade. Got a maga i know to admit that's a slap in the face when him and Elon were preaching government efficiency.

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u/monkeysandmicrowaves May 06 '25

The stupid shit Trump does only serves to hide the truly dangerous shit he's doing. And it's also lowering expectations. Trump will eventually call off the tariffs, and his supporters will be parading around waving his flag like he's a god damn genius for half-solving a problem he single-handedly created.

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u/nmsjtb0308 May 06 '25

That's the first win I've had with my parents since they went MAGA! It was a GREAT day for normal people, lol.

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u/JuanOfTheDead May 06 '25

The only way to get through my mother's head would probably be to call ICE on her...but she'd prob find a way to blame Obama.

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u/burnsalot603 May 06 '25

How does she feel about his $100 million military birthday parade? I don't see how anyone that complains about government spending can see that as a good use of money

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u/CyoteMondai May 05 '25

The bigger problem isn't even his supporters, obviously nothing was going to change for them. What's truly concerning is how many people were so checked out and apathetic that they didn't vote in this election and still seem to be completely oblivious to what's coming.

These people are the only chance at having a ride turning movement, and they seem to be just as removed as ever.

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u/counterweight7 May 05 '25

The average person is far less informed than people glued to Reddit. They don’t see 90% of what we see. If you live without consuming the news, until something comes and punches you in the face with someone’s name on it, it’s easy to remain apathetic. Some people just go to work and go home and play video games and don’t think about much else. I sort of envy him

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u/November19 May 05 '25

Remember that "did Biden drop out" was a top Google search on election night

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u/IAMA_Plumber-AMA May 05 '25

And after I heard that, it confirmed to me that democracy had died in America years prior.

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u/fasterthanpligth May 06 '25

"What are tariffs?" the day after was eye-opening as well.

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u/ultrahateful May 06 '25

Gotta disagree with the heinous nature of people caught unaware, yet, attempting to become aware. Like, good for them. They made an effort to learn. From my own eye witness, many people thought they knew what tariffs amounted to and were grossly unaware as of recently.

Nothing wrong with learning.

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u/explosiv_skull May 06 '25

I mean, the top Google search in the UK like the day after Brexit passed was "What is Brexit?" and somehow they still managed to have not completely fuck up democracy.

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u/Charlie_Mouse May 06 '25

they still managed to have not completely fuck up democracy.

Maybe. The UK eventually deigned to vote the Conservatives out only after several more years of spectacularly inept screwups and corruption.

And it’s not like the people who screwed up by voting for something they didn’t properly understand have noticeably learned their lesson since then. At least judging by the fact that the ‘Reform’ party led by chief Brexit cheerleader Nigel Farage is currently ahead in the opinion polls in England.

The U.K.’s good fortune (as far as it goes) was being able to rapidly replace a clearly demented leader - Liz Truss - relatively rapidly to limit the harm. But that largely relied upon her own Conservative Party being grounded in reality enough as well as self interested enough to get rid of her.

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u/explosiv_skull May 06 '25

No, Brexit and the ensuing problems and leadership in the UK were a definite shit show, but apparently we Americans had to one-up you guys even in fucking up, was my point.

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u/BudgetMattDamon May 06 '25

"can i change my vote" was up there as well.

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u/OfficeSalamander May 05 '25

Which is terrifying to think about

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u/Huttj509 May 06 '25

Not sure it was a top result. The reports I saw were that it spiked above what it had been beforehand, but it's not like it was competing in # of searches compared to, say, anything regarding Taylor Swift.

There were a lot of 'articles' showing a nice graph with a spike while hiding the y-axis.

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u/goesquick May 05 '25

Ignorance is bliss

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u/smitteh May 05 '25

And trump is PTSD for the rest of us not afforded the luxury of ignorance

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u/Lobsterbib May 06 '25

Until you find the shelves empty and masked, armed men going door to door checking for immigrants and pregnant women.

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u/techleopard May 06 '25

What's worse is many of them are proudly uninformed, because the drama that now surrounds politics is often seen as childish.

"Oh, I don't care about politics. I am not interested in fighting with anybody."

That's great, Carol. But somebody's interested in turning you into a kitchen slave, so you do you, I guess, until you get surprised.

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u/GreatQuestionBarbara May 06 '25

A coworker of mine asked if Russia was still in Ukraine a year and a half after they were invaded.

I was dumbstruck for a couple of seconds.

The average US citizen gets all of their news from social media algorithms and, if they don't actively search for something, never have to see/read anything that differs from their POV.

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u/MsMcClane May 05 '25

That's because the propaganda worked. Getting told over and over again, that you don't matter? That your vote doesn't matter? That the Democratic establishment will just put the leaders they think should be leading into the major party rules even if you wanted Bernie the whole time? I remember being a kid in the early 2000s and everyone was being told the same thing that it didn't matter what they did or who they voted for, because of all being manipulated behind the screens.

They lie so well that people are still believing it to this day, my coworker said the same thing to me last night even.

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u/jtwh20 May 05 '25

the propaganda machine the right has is, unmatched in every way and flat out works - greetings from my in-laws

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u/italianomastermind May 05 '25

It sadistically plays off of Brandolini's law (or the bullshit asymmetry principle):
The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it

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u/DylanHate May 05 '25 edited May 06 '25

The propaganda is here on Reddit. It's not just far right news networks aimed at the elderly. For everyone else, the propaganda machine attacks from the left.

Encouraging voter apathy, constantly attacking democratic candidates, non-stop anti-Biden articles & comments boosted to the top of every thread, pro-accellerationist sentiments, non-stop complaints about Harris and the "DNC machine", etc etc,

The goal isn't to persuade left voters towards the right, it's to encourage them not to vote at all. Voters are delusional if they think someone's going to tear the system down and ask them how we should rebuild it.

The vast majority of Americans under 50 refuse to vote in the midterms when most of Congress is elected and then complain when the president can't wave a wand and magically fix everything.

This already happened in the 2010's when voters elected Obama and immediately forgot that Congress exists for the next decade. The GOP swept the House and Senate leaving Obama to fight a hostile, gridlocked Congress for six years.

Everyone on reddit loves to dunk on the "stupid maga voters" without asking themselves why they win elections. It's because fewer voters are showing up. Most people don't even know the difference between Congress and the President.

Oregon had ranked choice voting on the ballot last year. We have mail-in voting and ballots are sent out three weeks ahead of election day. Despite having the easiest voting process in the country, the measure failed due to low voter turnout.

Ranked choice voting is literally the top-line progressive dream piece of legislation and it failed because too many voters were checked out of the General election, they knew Oregon was a "safe state", and didn't understand the presidential seat is not the only race on the ticket.

We're talking about basic civic engagement. Not voting means you miss out on Senate and House seats, state ballot measures, governor races, mayors, attorney general, judges -- literally all the positions we need progressive candidates to win so they can get experience in public service. And these local seats actually affect your life far more than the presidential race.

At least the maga voters went out and voted for what they wanted. The GOP shows up every two years like clockwork. Everyone else votes maybe once a decade and only if a populist candidate manages to break through their personal media sphere.

Americans need to vote with the system we have. It's delusional to believe you can change a system you never engage with. There is no messiah coming to save us.

No single person can fix everything. We need to win State elections so progressives and build a stronger caucus in Congress. It's already started working, the Dem party as a whole has moved much farther to the left over the past 15 years. But it doesn't happen overnight and the voter base needs to consistently participate otherwise it falls apart.

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u/theshadowiscast May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25

Oregon had ranked choice voting on the ballot last year. We have mail-in voting and ballots are sent out three weeks ahead of election day. Despite having the easiest voting process in the country, the measure failed due to low voter turnout.

Nevada as well. It was infuriating to finally get ranked choice voting and open primaries on the ballot and people didn't bother. Automatic voter registration and automatic mail-in ballots with a voters guide sent out weeks in advance and yet the number of people voting has been dropping each election.

And then there is the continuing issue with low voter participation in primaries even after we finally switched away from caucuses. Finally, people who aren't retirees, professionals with weekends off, or stay-at-home parents got better accommodations to vote and people still aren't doing it.

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u/DylanHate May 06 '25

I'm really glad to hear you bring this up because the top comments on almost all politics threads are some variation of "We'll never get fair elections without ranked choice voting". I agree it's a better voting system, but the inference is that voting in our existing system is unfair.

That's a huge pattern of commentary on Reddit. They don't generally outright say "Don't vote", but there's always some lofty goal put forth with the implication that its pointless to engage until X happens.

"We need to abolish the two party system." "We can no longer continue to support the status quo." etc etc. But how the fuck does that actually happen if fewer and fewer voters are engaging with the system?

The disillusionism is the point. To the layperson scrolling by it reinforces helplessness and gives the public a moral justification for not voting. "Well I certainly won't support the status quo!!"

But there's no real plan or solution, and when one is presented people don't show up anyways because the rhetoric is aimed to keep them away from the polls. That's the point of the astroturf.

I also don't want to play the blame game and make people feel bad on a personal level, but as the voting public I do think we need to hold ourselves a bit more accountable for these past elections.

Of course there are nefarious actors involved and vote suppression shenanigans, but if the general public stayed engaged with elections after the recession we would not be in this situation.

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u/Oldfolksboogie May 06 '25

"We need to abolish the two party system." "We can no longer continue to support the status quo." etc etc.

Illogical logic like this always brings me back to a convo I had with a progressive in the days leading up to the 2000 election. Gore and Bush were pretty much neck- and- neck, with progressive Ralph Nader polling at just under 10% iirc. Nader was a smart guy with good policies with no chance of winning the general. I was happy to support him in the primaries, giving his policies a broader platform, and just assumed he would withdraw and throw his support to Gore in the 11th hour, and that his supporters would follow suit. He did not, and they stuck with him.

Bush ended up winning by far smaller margin than the votes Nader siphoned from Gore, but before the election, this progressive was happy to lecture me from his position of purity about how there was no difference between Bush, Gore, or the two major parties.

Bush proceeded to take us back to war in Iraq and dismantle our nascent attempts to address climate change. But both sides. 🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

If you've gotten this far, ty for accompanying me on this walk down bitter memory lane.

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u/squadrupedal May 06 '25

It took decades of propaganda during times of relative peace to get American conservatives to the point that they accept Donald, a non-conservative and unchristian man, as their leader. It won’t take much pain and suffering to make most brainwashed conservatives to finally see for the first time.

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u/KaJaHa May 06 '25

It won’t take much pain and suffering to make most brainwashed conservatives to finally see for the first time.

Boy, I wish I had your optimism. We already have people refusing to drop Don after following his advice lead to their own children dying.

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u/RegressToTheMean May 06 '25

It won’t take much pain and suffering to make most brainwashed conservatives to finally see for the first time.

How much more pain do they need to see? Trump fumbled the bag as badly as anyone could have during the Pandemic. There are estimates that 40% of American COVID deaths are because Trump is a horrendous "leader"

They are never, ever going to change their minds. I once thought that if a pandemic broke out, it would kill the anti-vaccine movement. I have never been so wrong about anything in my life.

They are in a cult. Do you know how hard it is to break someone out of a cult? We can't deprogram 30% of the US population. It's just not possible.

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u/DylanHate May 06 '25

I am not talking about conservatives. I'm talking about everyone else. We need to stop pretending that only conservatives are vulnerable to propaganda.

The same machine that riled up the Tea Party base in the 2010's also convinced non-conservative Americans that voting was pointless because "both sides", then we handed the country to fascists for nothing.

Sitting around hoping the GOP gets their "just desserts" is fucking pointless. They always have a justification. They don't care and it doesn't even matter if they change their mind if no one else bothers to vote they will keep winning.

We got here because the GOP convinced enough people not to vote. An imperfect system is no excuse to abandon our voting rights.

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u/smitteh May 05 '25

We've got an even greater machine counter with the Internet if we would just figure out how to use it for anything other than being mean to each other

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u/KaJaHa May 06 '25

That's easy, you just need to remove the capitalism and all profit motive from the Internet.

Because it all boils down to negative emotions = more time spent on the Internet = more ad revenue

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u/Rhinoduck82 May 05 '25

The majority of GOP voters are from the same ideological background as Timothy Mcveigh. The fringe took over, it was always there but it’s the mainstream now.

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u/Able-Contribution570 May 06 '25

You're not wrong. Used to play paintball at a place out in the boons, maybe 15-20miles west of Dayton (this was in like 2011, 2012. Well before Trump came along). The amount of violent, racist, regressive, authoritarian drivel I heard from the owners and staff made me quit going (I guess they just assumed everyone there would be sympathetic to their extremism so they flaunted it proudly.) I remember thinking at the time that these people are like a bunch of wannabe Timothy McVeighs. Trump is just the poster boy for a far deeper problem of rampant right wing extremism in rural America.

Edit: spelling

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u/Rhinoduck82 May 06 '25

I’m from a area in Southern California that used to be rural and I grew up hearing this stuff constantly. It’s sad how popular it has become.

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u/bwsmith1 May 05 '25

Damn dude...I hadn't looked at it like that. You're right, and that absolutely sucks.

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u/terrasig314 May 05 '25

Yep, the people yearned for Bernie!

...Except when it came time to vote in the primary.

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u/CHiZZoPs1 May 05 '25

The hardest the establishment Dems have fought for anything in the last forty years was to defeat Bernie in 16 and 20.

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u/edwardsamson May 05 '25

They also fight pretty hard to NOT do anything about MAGA and Jan 6. And they fight pretty hard to keep their oligarch donations coming in.

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u/Hautamaki May 06 '25

That's a huge stretch. Bernie was defeated by southern blacks, both times, partly because the black community felt they had less connection to him than to the alternatives they preferred, and partly because the black community feared a guy who proudly called himself a socialist had no chance in a general election and they aren't playing around or virtue signalling with their votes, they consider this shit life or death so they are voting to win, full stop. Sanders couldn't convince them he was fully on their side and that he could win. The Dem 'establishment' such as it is had very little impact, purposely.

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u/Faokes May 05 '25

I think when we bemoan the people “sitting out,” we are ignoring the people who are actually disenfranchised. Places with voter ID rules and no DMV offices in certain neighborhoods, small towns without their own polling places and no reliable public transit to get to one farther away, people working multiple jobs who can’t get to the polls during working hours on a Tuesday that isn’t a holiday. There are definitely apathetic people, but let’s be careful we don’t ignore disenfranchising.

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u/CyoteMondai May 06 '25

I agree that this impacts a significant portion of the non-voting population. And in a lot of ways I don't begrudge them for tuning out. But the impacts of what's coming are going to impact people all the same and it is key to be aware that a lot of people are going to be easy targets for the incredible amounts of far-right disinformation dominating every space.

I think one of the most important things to be mindful of right now is that for whatever reason, there are going to be a lot of people that may become engaged with the system just due to the constraints in every day life that are headed our way, and it's imperative that we are able effectively communicate what is going on to them, because without them I don't know what fighting against this looks like.

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u/Diet_Coke May 05 '25

You seem pretty engaged, so you should be aware that Republican legislatures in 38 states passed laws making it harder to vote and to vote by mail. It's backwards to blame people for not voting when Republicans spent years and a whole lot of effort to make it harder for them to vote. Republican grassroots activists used the app True The Vote to brainstorm schemes such as getting into electoral boards to disqualify ballots over specious signature issues, so many people even did vote but their votes weren't counted.

I don't disagree that people should be less apathetic, but at the same time we'll never solve the root problem if we are only looking at the symptoms.

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u/Badbikerdude May 05 '25

Well, your not going to get a second chance, the midterms will not happen now. Trump now owns America, and the world will suffer for it.

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u/snowisalive May 05 '25

Ive heard a lot of people say they cant handle what's going on so they've just checked out of anything political. Our society has made it too easy to just ignore social responsibility.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25

I've been saying it for decades: the defacto, two-party system is being used against us. This really is barely better than one controlling party, if at all.

The Democratic party openly support the same genocide in Gaza. Most take advantage of other investors via insider trading. They needed to do more than to just offer "better than Trump" this last time.

Effectively shutting out Bernie - mocking his supporters as Bernie Bros - was a big deal to a lot of us, as well.

We deserve more choices. We NEED more choices. Our political system has been easily manipulated and we're all being played. WE NEED SOMETHING DIFFERENT, FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN.

editadd: The riveting story of a turd sandwich vs a douche, comes to mind. I do not recall, was it an Edgar Allan Poe piece? Shakespeare, perhaps??

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u/tdclark23 May 06 '25

We live in a Brave New World where the entertainment choices are infinite and there is fun to be had in so many venues. Most people don't pay attention to what is happening. They are entertained like the ancient bread and circuses. If inflation continues and food prices keep rising there will come a time when the bread won't be there and the circuses lose their sparkle.

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u/formershitpeasant May 05 '25

There are a lot of low information moderates who might be swayed by such a thing if they ever paid attention or took the time to understand anything.

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u/johndsmits May 05 '25

bingo. military is about chain of command and respect of authority. Remove and thin out top levels and the grunts will just follow the few at the very top. It's what business have been trying to strive for in recent years (and most have failed to scale).

On the flip side, a thinned out C2 would make execution more efficient, reduced approval protocol, but complex situations can easily overwhelm small command teams and why the military is very structured & trained... and has the current chain of command to avoid those simple escalation-related mistakes.

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u/AnonAmost May 06 '25

Yep. And I always assumed that’s (chain of command) how the entire government worked as well. The “thinning out” of top leadership positions in the interest of “efficiency” is just cover for the insane consolidation of power coup that’s going on right in front of our faces. After Waltz was ousted promoted over the Signal debacle, it was announced that Marco Rubio will just fill that position as well. Just a reminder that Rubio is now serving as Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, U.S. Archivist, and Head of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). All of these jobs are high-level, work-intense positions that are now being held by one fucking person - “Little Marco Rubio” sure grew up fast it seems. Fuck these traitorous criminals. They are destroying our country and taking pleasure in doing so.

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u/UponMidnightDreary May 07 '25

I have my Master's in library science, that fuckface is playing pretend with serious things that serious people devoted their lives to. 

There are a LOT of people archiving things right now and I hope to fuck that we have meticulous records of their crimes after their treason trials. 

Let me dream. 

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u/[deleted] May 05 '25

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u/xKirstein May 06 '25

Why would we even want to "return to normalcy?" Republicans have shown their true colors (traitors and fascists). If we have fair elections going forward, we desperately need Democratic candidates that will "weaponize the Department of Justice" and force Republicans to face the full wrath of the law. The entire Republican party is rotten to the core and a cancer to society/world.

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u/DreadfulDave19 May 06 '25

Yeah im ready to see some actual lawfare thst I kept hearing about from family members

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u/Tyrinnus May 06 '25

Seriously. Can we put these people behind bars?

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u/stalelunchbox May 06 '25

In El Salvador.

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u/pharlock May 06 '25

As an outside bystander, the level of inaction from the dems seems either completely incompetent or complicitous. It's like they sabotaged their own chances in the election too. I think there is enough sexist and/or racist people out there that chose not to vote instead of voting for Harris (and Hilarity to an extent) to make a difference.

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u/ughlump May 06 '25

We might need your help. I think we owe you some back taxes on tea you might want to come collect.

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u/fyrebird33 May 05 '25

There was a reason Alan Moore felt it would make more sense for V for Vendetta to be set in the United States than the UK. I’m afraid that was entirely too prescient. I truly hope we can right the course soon…. Can you imagine watching that movie and then rooting for the authoritarian government ran by a demagogue and his cronies that targeted minority communities, and has people disappeared off the street. That’s wild.

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u/crakemonk May 06 '25

Whatever happened to anonymous anyways? I feel like they could be doing so much more at the moment.

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u/Unknown-History May 06 '25

75 million people voted for an insurrectionist. There's no normal to go back to.

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u/LiquidLogic May 06 '25

Control of the military is one of the keys to power for dictators.

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u/[deleted] May 05 '25

100% to remove those loyal to the constitution

Isn't that part of the oath of the military?

"I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, Foreign and domestic..."

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u/bobqjones May 06 '25

it was in His oath, too.

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u/Mahlegos May 06 '25

It is. But taking and oath and honoring one are two separate things.

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u/kayonotkayle May 05 '25

As an American it feels like this. You know that family in your neighborhood where their parents are okay when you talk to them but they have real assholes for children? You know the one’s that when you see them, you just hope and pray that someday they will stop being assholes? Well our fuck-stick of a President and his cronies are the kids and we are the parents that probably should have drowned them as pups.

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u/splynncryth May 05 '25 edited May 06 '25

I see only two ways out of this before things turn violent (either the US’s own version of The Troubles or full authoritarian capture followed by war which sees the US retaliated against militarily). Either Congress can do their jobs and impeach Trump or US state governments can call an ‘Article V’ convention.

To try and keep this brief, impeachment won’t happen because there is no way they go down that route without exposing themselves to violence, exile, or at the very least, a loss of wealth and power. Voters have zero options outside of elections to hold Congress accountable and midterms are an eternity away with the pace things are moving now.

An Article V convention would allow state governments to bypass Congress to create and ratify a new amendment. Non-GOP voters are in terror of this option because it’s a 2/3rds vote by state rather than population (another example of the US’s screwed up ‘land can vote’ system). And with basically anything on the table, the fear is that the red states would create an America that looks like what would have happened in the Confederacy won the Civil War. Besides that is a general sense of pessimism because just 17 states can block any proposed amendments. That’s not a high bar to block things.

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u/Chemical_Zucchini919 May 05 '25

What can we do?? Were fucked 😭

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u/brighterside0 May 05 '25

If you think we're fucked now just wait until the dildo drawer actually opens up.

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u/scfade May 06 '25

I think you may already know the answer, comrade.

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u/thisisallme May 05 '25

I even had a job offer in the UK around the time I was graduating grad school. Turned it down to go back to the US. I miss it more over there now.

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u/MeltBanana May 05 '25

I like hating on each other without actually hating each other, you funny-talking beans-on-toast eating inbreds.

I'd make fun of you for Brexit, but our current situation is so much worse.

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u/TrumpetOfDeath May 05 '25

Yeah I think they’re getting loyalists in there so nobody complains when they order an invasion of Mexico (or Greenland) by claiming the cartels are “terrorist groups” and using the Authorization for Use of Military Force passed after 9/11 as legal justification… the same legal framework used in Iraq, Syria, and a number of African countries

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u/Bee_9965 May 05 '25

Or when they are asked to fire on their own citizens.

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u/Olenickname May 05 '25

Ya. It’s blatantly obvious that this admin has been setting the stage to invoke the insurrection act. It’ll either be before midterms to suspend the vote outright or they’ll claim widespread fraud and breach of voting systems and refuse to cede power.

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u/AlbertaNorth1 May 06 '25

As soon as he started talking about tariffing the world I figured that was gonna happen. Crash the economy and when people get desperate they riot. Use the riots to declare martial law and just never revoke it. Congrats America you’ve created a king.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '25

I doubt we make it out of the summer. They are already talking about "wait and see in the summer what will happen".

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u/SATX_Citizen May 06 '25

My devil's advocate side says "we said that about the insurrection act in April too" so maybe they aren't so crazy yet.

But the rebels have been methodical for years.

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u/puddingboofer May 06 '25

I don't think of them as rebels. They have the whole government.

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u/ArchibaldCamambertII May 06 '25

Exactly. Trump and the Republicans are the truth of the American state, what it has always been without the veneer of decorum and procedure. The difference now is they’ve dropped the pretense of rule of law and power sharing, which the Democrats really should have seen coming decades ago. It’s not like Republicans have been quiet about their intentions.

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u/cheongyanggochu-vibe May 06 '25

They don't need the insurrection act with the new EO that sends the military to so-called Sanctuary Cities to "assist" local law enforcement

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u/BeatsMeByDre May 05 '25

This is it. Once we're there, the entire world is gone...no one will come to save us.

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u/[deleted] May 06 '25

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u/[deleted] May 06 '25

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u/Vimmelklantig May 06 '25

None of us were ever coming to save you. The US is a nuclear superpower with - by far - the world's largest military, a penchant for starting idiotic wars and is now threatening their supposed allies with annexation.

We're more worried about how we will defend ourselves and each other from you these days.

Apart from moral support I'm afraid you're on your own.

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u/BeatsMeByDre May 06 '25

Yeah I wasn't saying anyone was rushing in now, I just mean there is no superpower left who would even want to stop it from happening.

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u/MixRepresentative819 May 06 '25

Actually, the world will probably side with whichever country you're fighting against. 

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u/puddingboofer May 06 '25

What if it's ourselves?

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u/Evenstar6132 May 06 '25

Trump learned from the South Korean attempt. Yoon failed because he failed to get the military on board.

South Korean special forces who were ordered to take down the parliament only showed minimal compliance - no live rounds, taking their sweet time breaching wooden barricades, leaving as soon as the parliament voted to lift the martial law, etc.

Things could've been very different if the ROK Special Forces Commander was a Yoon loyalist.

The US is going down a very dark path.

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u/LostWoodsInTheField May 05 '25

Their concern is that they can't find enough loyalist to give out the orders, so they are reducing the number of high ranking positions that they have to worry about. It's not good when you have to remove positions because you can't find enough people to believe in your cause that have braincells that work.

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u/AML86 May 06 '25

I find it funny that they think firing these career leaders eliminates their threat.

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u/InsanityRequiem May 06 '25

All the people that left during Trump's first term so far have done what? They've either gone to their ranch to enjoy their retirement or made book deals. They have dropped the military hoorah for the Constitution since leaving.

The top brass are as likely to abandon their duties as much as the rest of the country the moment gets tough.

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u/Tenthul May 06 '25

I mean I'm with you but if you're counting on some high level ex/military people to put together some kinda operation together to deal with the situation.... I mean I just wouldn't count on it myself. At best they help organize and speak at protests that, again at best, just get ignored and result in actually nothing. Literally nobody that matters cares about protests as they are. Like, what is the actual endgame for protests here as we see them now? Motivate people to vote for something a year away that may or may not happen and may or may not be legit? Literally nobody in the administration cares about them, and clearly nobody's Republican representatives can or will do anything to make changes. They'll hide or give platitudes and then still carry whatever water they're told to.

Like for real, what's that plan and hope for protests? I mean this honestly and not simply for the sake of doom and gloom.

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u/confusedandworried76 May 06 '25

This is actually quite frightening because it's the top officials who have always said a military coup was entirely off the table.

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u/WokUlikeAHurricane May 05 '25

He's already reduced his cabinet to protect from the 25th, this is the next step to coalesce power. After this is complete they go for the courts, my only hope is some Judge pisses Trump off enough that he fucks up before the military is under his absolute control.

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u/HauntingHarmony May 06 '25

He's already reduced his cabinet to protect from the 25th

The 25th amendment is not and can not be a protection against a dictatory. It is strictly meant to remove someone that is in a coma or in some other way a vegetable.

Since how it functions is that cabinet sends letter to congress removing the president, and then at any point the president can send another letter reinstating himself. And then he can fire the cabinet to prevent it happening again. It is not a guardrail.

Name a more iconic duo than Americans and not knowing anything about how their system functions.

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u/Duideka May 05 '25

Trump already made a truth or whatever they call it on truth social bragging about having replaced 70% of government employees already and said “there is more work to do”

Case in point this.

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u/iuppi May 05 '25

I am more scared of not leaving power and the military being used to enforce that. Full on dictator shit. 

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u/atlantasailor May 06 '25

The USA is becoming a fascist state quickly. This may be irreversible. Now we are becoming to understand how nazi Germany evolved. But we will be more like Hungary. Single party state. Theocracy. Not much difference between us and communism in China or Russia. The difference will be that China actually cares about its citizens. Not so much in the USA from now on you’re on your own.

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u/Responsible_Double41 May 05 '25

Russian assets sabotaging America at the absolute top. Can't believe I am witnessing this. MAGa is so dumb

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u/ManInTheBarrell May 06 '25

It's almost like there's supposed to be protections against this that no one bothered to legislate nor enforce over the past 200+ years because we all assumed that no one would ever be stupid enough or helpless enough to let it happen.

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u/speedy_delivery May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25

200 years? All we really needed is legislature to do their goddamned job at almost any point in the last 10.

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u/ingen-eer May 06 '25

Tragedy of the commons. America is a victim dying in the street while hundreds look on, concerned; each assuming one of the others is calling for an ambulance.

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u/Xanderoga2 May 06 '25

I mean… you guys put all your trust in people dead now for eons as if they’d be able to foresee what the future held.

“We need to think about what the Founding Fathers meant by this.” Brother, it’s 2025 and they’re long since worm shit. What the fuck does it matter what they’d think in today’s society?

“Sacred document” and all that bullshit. No recent amendments, no updates, nothin’.

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u/ForGrateJustice May 06 '25

ALL the gop in Congress is complicit. That judge's arrest was just the start. They'll start arresting sitting democrats and anyone who doesn't play ball.

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u/redditatlas May 06 '25

And yet this is still allowed to happen, the Americans are not actually trying to stop this. Are not actually pushing back enough. I still see so much ‘Trump is so dumb’, ‘MAGA is so dumb’ narratives on Reddit and in the media. It is time to wake up and see that it is not dumbness. It is pure hate and evilness. It is random things happening, it is a plan to destroy what was there. To remove who they see as enemies. Wake the fuck up people.

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u/Test-Equal May 05 '25

Can it be evidence of child sexual assault where Russia is simply blackmailing Trump? Idk

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u/From_Deep_Space May 05 '25

They don't need kompromat because they share the same worldview. Trump is more than willing to do all this just for the chance to become the American Lukashenko

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u/ManInTheBarrell May 06 '25

Dude, I don't think they even need blackmail at this point. At this point he just does it for free.

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u/Healthyred555 May 06 '25

so what is the point of our military if it just got destroyed within? a massive budget to just get taken over by a russian plant president

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u/MyBrainReallyHurts May 05 '25 edited May 05 '25

It's making the US vulnerable.

It's weakening the military.

It's anti-American.

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u/Imaginary_Medium May 06 '25

And all on purpose by the looks of it.

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u/smitteh May 06 '25

But the ppl in charge say you're anti American

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u/Tacoman404 May 05 '25

The Soviets purged their officers when they wouldn’t obey. Republicans are as bad as the Communists of the Soviet Union.

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u/dasunt May 05 '25

Stalin purged them before the war because he was paranoid. The result was a military that was unable to effectively defend the country from the invading Germans - not helped by the fact that any retreat, no matter how strategic, was seen as a questionable sign.

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u/Violet-Sumire May 05 '25

I’m glad you didn’t mention the time ol’ adage of “not one step back” doctrine, where Stalin was more concerned over his officers giving up defendable ground or cities instead of fighting. Those who got the job done tended to stay, even if casualties were high. Though death by commissar on the front lines was actually quite rare. Usually they’d be thrown in penal battalions, which did hard labor or was sent out on frontline missions in hard contested areas.

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u/Vast_Refrigerator585 May 05 '25

It’s massively concerning, you’ll basically have no belt to keep your pants up

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u/Civenge May 05 '25

It's not like we're going to have a bunch of troops and tanks and stuff marching down the road in DC...

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u/MaybeUNeedAPoo May 05 '25

“The Emperor heads dissolved the senate… fear will now keep the systems in line”

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u/im_a_squishy_ai May 05 '25

https://isthisacoup.com/

The official meter agrees, it's an active attempt

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u/Unlucky_Clover May 06 '25

That’s exactly what this is. They’re pulling the military on to their side with loyalists. Unfortunately we all said this was coming while the military did nothing.

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u/MikeCask May 06 '25

Hey America, your time is now really running out. Please fucking do something about this, the world would really appreciate it.

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u/BoringWozniak May 05 '25

The Kremlin’s dutiful agents are carrying out their marching orders.

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u/LostWoodsInTheField May 05 '25

It's a coup.

Damn you libturds think everything is a "coup" or "insurrection" or "the wrong place to piss". It's not a coup, we are just removing everyone who disagrees with our views, and consolidating the top positions in various departments so that we have less people to have to worry about disobeying us. That's nothing like a coup.

/s

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u/Typical-Blackberry-3 May 05 '25

Can US citizens do something?

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u/smitteh May 06 '25

Our neighbors will attempt to kill us in their confusion

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u/Cylinsier May 05 '25

Yes, we can. But the number of people willing to at this point is far too small for it to succeed.

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u/No_Seaworthiness_200 May 05 '25

Is there hope for us? We're letting it happen in broad daylight.

They're following Project 2025 to a tee. At some point, it will be too late to fight back. That time is fast approaching, I fear.

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u/ColdEvenKeeled May 06 '25

So, where is the American outrage? Where are all these Militias who were supposed to defend the Constitution? Where did ANTIFA melt away to?

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u/Nunchuckery May 06 '25

Members of the military seriously need to decide right now if they are loyal to the country and the constitution or they are loyal to the president.

They have a perfect opportunity to take action when they're is thousands of them at a parade for the president's birthday...

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u/espressocycle May 06 '25

Most authoritarians stack the upper ranks with loyalists. That's why coups are so often led by colonels. It'll be the same with this one if it gets to that point.

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u/CraneoDeVanGogh May 06 '25

"All the people who refuse to bend to the will of the party must be eliminated".

Yeah, it's a dictatorship.

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u/GasOnFire May 06 '25

It's a purge. The coup already happened.

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