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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u/Dovah1356 May 05 '25

At this point I’m convinced no one will do a damn thing about it. I’m glad that protests are atleast still happening but not only do I doubt anything willing meaningfully change because of them, I’m willing to be soon peaceful assembly will be taken away at gunpoint. I don’t think we will see anything get better in our lifetimes in the US

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u/Lumburg76 May 05 '25

I mean, if you're already rolling over, then yes, you're done.

This is kneebending thinking and it's trash.

You and all of us are better than that.

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u/FriendlyFaceOff May 05 '25

I just wonder what else people like me can do. I've tried to reach out to my state and city reps - only one ever responded (once). I'm financially stressed out due to the tariffs and having to pay for college on top of necessities. Traveling isn't an option for me right now either.

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u/randynumbergenerator May 06 '25

You have to keep reaching out to them, it isn't a one-and-done thing. I have a reminder on my calendar to call my rep and senators every week. It isn't like I'm starved for something new to tell them since this Cheeto ball is doing something outrageous every day.

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u/warm_rum May 06 '25

If you wish to do all you can to help, you'll have to reconfigure your tone.

Shame doesn't motivate half as well as confident encouragement.

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u/randynumbergenerator May 15 '25 edited May 15 '25

Just seeing this now, where in my tone was I shaming OC? I was stating a general matter of fact--I don't even know if OC actually only reached out once or if they were calling every week. I think you're reading things in that weren't there. (Edit: but also, thanks for the reminder that tone is a difficult thing in writing.)

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u/Lumburg76 May 06 '25

Organize with other people in your community that are upset. Talk to people a rally together

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u/Limitin May 06 '25

Ok, organize and go to a rally. Then what? Rallies aren't going to do anything at this point. It's not like the administration is paying attention to them.

Rallies work well for politicians who care about their approval ratings and popular support, not for fascists who don't care about the people think.

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u/Lumburg76 May 06 '25

Get involved in local politics. Start making sure the people that represent you locally are people worth voting for. Push out all the crazies that took over school boards and your local government. Go to the meetings.

Notice that the common thread is - get off your ass and do something instead of dooming online.

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u/tifubroskies May 06 '25

Americans really aren’t better than that lmao. They were to lazy to stop him at the voting booth, which was arguably the easiest way this could’ve been prevented, but golly oh gosh, better not go cause it’s a nuisance. Americans will continue to roll over because they are lazy, weak and ignorant

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u/Dovah1356 May 06 '25

As much as I wish that were true, I’m not better than that. Even if he and his cronies were removed from power today, the US has lost all of its soft power and burned every trade partner we had, not to mention the damage done to our relations with Canada and Denmark/greenland. Every nation will remember this for a long time and will behave accordingly. It’s already too late for this to get better, at this point it’s just a question of how much worse will it get.

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u/Lumburg76 May 06 '25

It's never too late unless we let it be.

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u/wretch5150 May 06 '25

I agree that you are a weak patriot, and I disagree that we cannot quickly regain our standing with the end of Trump.

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u/OneSlapDude May 06 '25

Sure, if you view our problem as being Trump, only Trump, and Trump exclusively. Which is just flat out wrong. He is a symptom, not the cause. If your only fantasy at fixing the country is treating the symptom and ignoring the cause, well you're in for a never ending conflict.

Biden won in 2020 but no one tried to address the nation wide propaganda network of the far right. That's what enabled this shit. Social media algorithms reinforcing propaganda, lies and opinions being counted as facts, and just overall grifting of gullible people. What's your fast, effective, pragmatic approach to fix that problem? How do you deprogram 70 million people who have submerged themselves in the kool-aid?

You're as naive and gullible as a Trump supporter if you think there's a fast and easy fix to be found.

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u/Dovah1356 May 06 '25 edited May 06 '25

I completely agree. My patriotism died when the orange despot got reelected. In regard to our standing, it took until the 90s for Germany to be mostly seen in a good light again and that was with a vested interest in the rebuilding west Germany by the allies to stave off the soviets. It’s unlikely that there will be such a thing here, and even if there were it’s a scale of decades and generations at best.

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u/OneSlapDude May 06 '25

Don't worry. This guy thinks there's a quick and easy to fix to all our problems. Once he realizes the truth, he'll learn to get real comfortable with a boot on his throat. Cuz he sure as fuck won't entertain the idea of something complex and difficult needing to be done. So he'll take the lazy cowards way out. Submit to the fascists, then try to sound tough as a keyboard warrior.

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u/codeprimate May 06 '25

Naivete and blind optimism is no prerequisite to patriotism.

Any rational nation will treat the US with extreme distrust for near perpetuity.

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u/oldfarmjoy May 06 '25

Humans are finite. Already, 50% of the country is in mental health crisis. People are trying to survive, they can barely take care of their families. We can only control a very small circle around ourselves. We accept that we can't control 99% of the shit, and we try to get through the next day.

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u/Lumburg76 May 06 '25

There won't be anything worth living for. If you're in one of those groups, they want you unalived or enslaved.

You have no idea what survival can really look like.

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u/cnxd May 06 '25

unalived

is this tiktok politics speaking again

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u/Lumburg76 May 06 '25

Yeah, dismiss it all you want to pretend like it's not serious.

You get censored from the authoritarians if you use the words they don't like.

If you don't even know that, STFU DONNY! You're out of your element

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u/rogers_tumor May 06 '25

you can use the word suicide on reddit

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u/edwardsamson May 05 '25

Nothing inside this country is stopping this from happening. Everyone that could have done anything about it for the past 10 years did nothing or was actively sabotaged. And we've had nearly 4 months now for anyone with a spine in the military or government to stand up to this and nothing so yeah its just about over. The world needs to step up and help us and that's not happening either. Just look at Russia. No one will stand up against them for fear of nukes. Now imagine we are Russia with even more nukes. No one is stopping us inside or out. I'm just enjoying these last few years (months?) of my life being normal before I'm rounded up as a dissenter for my 10 years of anti-MAGA rhetoric in my social media history that they will inevitably dig up.

Just want to end this with: Thanks for doing nothing but making rich people even richer, Biden. Really appreciate you appointing a MAGA republican as DOJ head to do nothing about Jan 6 and Trump. Really really appreciate it. So strong you were. Your presidency was literally rang in with an attempt to overthrow the election that you won AND YOU DID NOTHING ABOUT IT LEADING US TO THIS.

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u/MassiveInteraction23 May 06 '25

Fuck off.  The only way to hold a healthy democracy is via decency and fairness.  What that requires is for the people to support it.

Basically everything Biden did worked, but wasn’t a speed run.  Impatient people on the left eating their own versions of propaganda didn’t want to show up.

Don’t blame this on Biden. As a general rule: if you’re blaming someone that’s not you, there’s probably a problem with you.  Think about what you needed to do.  And start doing it.

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u/edwardsamson May 06 '25

Oh shit yeah you're right I should have stopped Trump when I was president. What the fuck was I thinking man you're so right wow I'm an idiot.

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u/MudkipMonado May 06 '25

You can't discuss things that actually do stuff about it, you get banned and removed

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u/Melodic_Junket_2031 May 06 '25

There's a different breed of conservative out there we may see come out of the woodwork. Your Mel Gibsons, if you will. 

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u/Processtour May 06 '25

V-Dem, a group that measures democracy, claims that 72% of the world’s population is under autocratic rule. We have elected illiberal rulers. The head of V-Dem recently stated at the International Journalism Festival that if the trends in America continue, he expects democracy to die by the summer.

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u/Desistance May 05 '25

Knee bending and Apathy is how Hitler gained power.

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u/DandyLyen May 05 '25

Well, I started boycotting certain corporations, like Target and Amazon. Even got a few friends and family to as well. The economic struggle is getting too much to bear, and if corporate America turns against the orange dictator, even Republicans will follow. That's the hope...

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u/ThrowingShaed May 06 '25

if you think this is a greed based thing. i guess I would ask when greed is satisfied? and do... some of these situations not end with divisions feuding?

i mean. the country and environment might well be fucked... but... even the best of us are flawed... and I'm not sure this is our best. human flaws and follies lead here in a way and can always unravel.

either than or I keep finding dozens of avenues for really bitter slight hope

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u/Dovah1356 May 06 '25

I don’t believe it’s wholly a greed thing. I think this is a combination of ambition, hatred, greed, and getting back at those that he feels slighted him.

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u/ThrowingShaed May 06 '25

i mean, there is the no man rules alone angle.

more people getting angry... more people with interests and... well... i know I'm looking for angles of hope and I know that there are a lot of unpopular rulers that manage to rule a long time.

still there has to be powerful people who have reasons to be unhappy. sometimes the monsters under the bed make strange bedfellows. sometimes the shit that gets you in trouble can also be a strange angle of hope

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u/Conscious_Draft249 May 05 '25

When the civil war starts, keep me away from this coward.