That’s tough. I don’t know what I would have said either. Probably that the family member should vote for Sanders so that dental treatment remains affordable for as many people as possible. But I probably wouldn’t have thought of that in that situation.

Yes, obviously, but why?

Edit: Can’t you see how little this is in your interest? How you are being distracted from the important things? And so easily: Things really went downhill for US citizens under Reagan—and he was an actor, and not even a good one at that. Instead of this straw man, citizens could have voted for Carter. Then the reality in the US today would most likely be quite different.

It will always be a mystery to me why US citizens always place so much importance on appearances instead of focusing on the important things.

Here’s an example from the last election campaign: the Democrats were somehow more successful in portraying Trump as “old and strange” than in portraying him as how he really is: corrupt and criminal.

Well, now organized crime rules the US – but somehow it’s still all about how Trump dresses, how he is old and weird. Yes, that’s true, I mean, the guy has been orange since the 90s, but it’s by no means the biggest problem with this administration — not even close.

Dreaming of a tropical island…

Is “tariff” now the new “woke”? A term without any meaning that Republicans throw around just to give their brainless followers a starting point from which they can see their deluded fantasies as seemingly rooted in reality?

So something along the lines of: “100 percent tariffs will teach you what happens when you are woke” or some other stupid crap like that.

It’s hard to believe, but somehow US news are getting more absurd by the day, even though it should have reached rock bottom long ago…

The bare, rather worn wall and the full laundry basket also show where the focus lies … on the important things in life!

I really wonder whether this administration is too simple-minded to realize how absurd they are, or whether they don’t care because they know that no matter what they say or do, their behavior will have no consequences whatsoever.

Absolutely right, but when you look at the US regime and its voters, there are even more reasons that clearly speak in favor of abortion.

As with most authoritarian groups, I think that Maga is primarily driven by fear: on the one hand, fear of the fictional enemies that their demagogues constantly conjure up (foreigners, Antifa, etc.) and, on the other hand, fear of retaliation by their own people or exclusion from the sect if a Maga follower dares to express even the slightest criticism of the leaders of this idiotic movement.

Only the second threat, i.e., fear of persecution by their own people, is justified, because it actually stems from reality. This allows for the control of both the foot soldiers, whose interests are of course not represented by the leadership at all, and the higher-ranking members, who actually benefit directly from the sellout of the US through nepotism and, in particular, corruption.

Now that their leader is in office, it is difficult to say what role the fictional enemy images still play. I think the fear of their own people now prevails by a long shot.

One example that suggests this is the fact that during the election campaign, the MAGA leadership propagated the conspiracy theory of child molesters in influential positions. Now that the election has been won, this topic is being avoided at all costs. The reason is clear: there is some truth to this conspiracy theory—but contrary to what the MAGA leadership has portrayed this ominous group of evil, it is obviously the conservatives themselves who are the child abusers, who are this ominous group of infuencial criminals. This should also have become clear to many MAGA supporters by now, as the administration is, for obvious reasons, doing everything in its power to prevent the announced prosecution of Eppstein’s customers and partners from taking place.

Now, however, MAGA supporters are too afraid of being targeted by their own people if they demand that the election promise be fulfilled and insist that the influential child abusers finally be stopped, because that would mean making enemies of the MAGA leadership, who are obviously the ones responsible.

So in short, I think Maga is now mainly operating on the basis of fear of persecution by its own people—as was already the case with the Nazis in the Third Reich. So it’s quite the traditional Nazi strategy really.

Given how often headlines claim that Maga has imploded, melted down, or been slammed, one would think that nothing would be left of it by now—but unfortunately, none of this has any consequences.

I think we will find it increasingly difficult to filter out these people in the future. The reason is understandable: US citizens fear that they will be persecuted as dissidents if they post negative things about the regime and their henchmen. I think this fear is completely justified, as the US is now essentially already a dictatorship with all the associated mechanisms of repression. Therefore, I’m afraid, we will have to accept that simply adding names to the block list is no longer sufficient.

Please include the name in posts with this orange Hitler wannabe. He’s on my block list because I can’t stand seeing that goddamn fake tan face anymore.

I have always found it a fitting metaphor for the entire US political system that the judiciary is controlled by nine people - who are appointed for life and essentially make decisions without any checks and balances.

A similar problem is currently evident in the US: organized crime on an unprecedented scale is being portrayed as legitimate action by a state and legitimized as such by a legal system that is obviously complicit.

In addition to the massive consequences for citizens, this is evident in the absurd extent to which those responsible are enriching themselves - led by the president with his stay-out-of-prison carte blanche issued by the Supreme Court, but the entire government is benefiting just as massively as the regime’s billionaire partners.

This is usually called oligarchy or kleptocracy, but in essence it is simply organized crime taking place at the highest level of a country and thus giving itself a veneer of legitimacy. After all, it is only a crime if the corresponding court rulings are issued, which is fundamentally impossible in an unjust state. So…

Given the scale of the problem, one could certainly speak of organized crime, which makes the US a banana republic—I think that sums it up.

Here, too, the sheer ridiculousness of the regime once again obscures its criminal intentions.

Statements such as these are then completely ignored:

We also don’t fight with stupid rules of engagement. We untie the hands of our warfighters to intimidate, demoralize, hunt and kill the enemies of our country. No more politically correct and overbearing rules of engagement, just common sense, maximum lethality and authority for warfighters.

Pete Hegseth Source

This obviously means that all moral conventions, humanitarian principles, and international agreements are being thrown overboard—in other words, absolute ruthlessness, Israel-style.

This is the face of America today: a grotesque grimace of fascist malice.

Trump has made crime a major focus of his administration

Yes, for the more informed among them, you could call it that, or:

“Strategic ignorance (also called deliberate ignorance or wilful blindness) is the intentional avoidance of information because possessing it would impose costs, obligations, or constraints that reduce expected utility.”

Somewhat sloppyly adapted from Sweeny et al. (2010) and Sims (2003).

There is a word for it, but these people would never think of applying it to their peers because they themselves are the epitome of its meaning, which is in turn evidenced by their inability to recognize this fact: ignorance.