Trump 
is likely to win. Last time, he was constrained by not having willing operatives in place in the various agencies and departments. They aren’t going to make that mistake again. Also last time, after a few big and largely ineffective demonstrations, people generally let him do what he wanted without doing much about it. I hope that this time, we will be willing and able to actually act. There will be people who need protection or to get out of there. I hope we will help.
@ZonaPellucida Going to be an unpopular opinion but I feel you're spot on.The threat of him could've been neutralised a long time ago but someone,somewhere decided to treat him with kid gloves lest they motivated the rabble that follow him.In my opinion they should've hammered him from day one.The trouble they thought they'd avert is coming regardless,should've just ripped the plaster off when they had the chance instead of letting him even near a chance for a second term.
@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida From my perspective, he has been hammered on every front. His J6 mob has been facing huge legal repercussions. He's been facing lawsuit after lawsuit, with convictions and sentences. We even know about the corruption and election tampering because it is being exposed in the media.
The Republican party has decided that TFG is its moral and ideological centre. There are no tools available in a democratic system to deal with that from within.
@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida You're right. He was given advantages, stays and even had things thrown out of court by partisan judges.
Appeals don't work -- the corruption goes all the way up to SCOTUS.
The only way to solve this would have been for Biden to grow and stack SCOTUS, which would have destabilised the country even more.
The blatant corruption on the republican side with election tampering, voter interference, and whatever the hell else Musk is doing will need a reckoning.
@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida I think everything is on pause until the election results are in.
But in my estimation, the tensions have never been higher. TFG's supporters think they're the aggrieved ones. Indeed, they've turned that into their whole brand.
As a result, they've created a powder-keg I don't even think they're aware of. They're only listening to their own echo chambers.
But who TFG is promising positions of power to are profoundly dangerous. It's a truly horrific scenario.
@sumpnlikefaith I fully believe that a lot of them know full well that they're a powder keg and are gleefully embracing the moment the fuse is lit.They want aggro,they're craving violence,they desire that nod in their direction to go out on the streets and take their anger out on those around them that they feel deserve it. @ZonaPellucida
@sumpnlikefaith Every time they reached a critical juncture,they eased off instead of pressing the attack,they gave him wiggle room.Whatever strategy and reasoning for it has spectacularly backfired.Whether it was because they thought he was the easiest to go up against this year,they were afraid of setting precedents that could then be turned against their own side,whatever the reasoning they've shot themselves in both feet. @ZonaPellucida
@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida I mean, maybe there was a way to push harder. But what I saw was the rule of law being used to undermine his whole enterprise.
He's a felon now. His network has been weakened. So many grifters surrounding him have faced massive legal consequences. All the checks and balances were put into effect.
But...somehow...everything that should matter to people making a choice about who should lead them no longer does. Democrats cannot be blamed for that.
@sumpnlikefaith You can never underestimate stupid unfortunately.When that's involved you've an uphill battle.In all honesty I feel that they'd vote for him even if he were banged up.I'll be very surprised if we don't begin to see isolated of violence incidents from next Tuesday on and that needs to be nipped in the bud immediately otherwise it's going to spread,and spread quickly. @ZonaPellucida
@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida The US has been bristling for civil war for a long while now.
I don't think the foreign interference around TFG was to put one chosen leader in. I believe it was to destabilise the system.
From that perepctive, it worked.
The system is destabilised. People are perceiving their neighbours as dangerous.
The next step is violence. Unless republicans and (to a lesser extent) democrats can see that they've been played, violence is inevitable.
@sumpnlikefaith I think appealing to the right for civility and stepping back from the brink will ultimately be a waste of breath.They're gagging for a civil war and I don't see them being dissuaded. @ZonaPellucida
@FrankCannon @ZonaPellucida Sadly, this is what I'm perceiving as well. This is where all the far-right messaging dovetails together.
The NRA's capitalist, populist take on keeping the nation armed. The populist take on 2nd Amendment. The prejudice. The conspiracy theories. The paranoia. All of it.
The way right-wing keyboard warriors talk though, they are going to be profoundly shocked when they discover that violence is a two-way street.
@sumpnlikefaith Something's been waiting to snap for quite some time now and I think next week will prove to be the catalyst. @ZonaPellucida
The Reckoning of the Megalomaniac Billionaire Elites…
Proving every day in every way that obscene wealth causes sociopaths to spiral deeper into ever greater megalomaniacal sociopathy and mental illness.
@sumpnlikefaith @FrankCannon I think we would be looking at fortifying networks to provide assistance to people being targeted like immigrants, LGBTQ, Muslims, Jews, women needing reproductive care, etc. Not politics.
@ZonaPellucida @FrankCannon Well, I mean this *is* politics now.
This is what giving someone like TFG (I hope I can keep using that acronym after Nov 6th) so much power does. It's no longer about policy-making, it's about how much he's allowed to directly interfere in individuals' lives.
He has no philosophical core. He has no restraint, no perspective, no plan. He only has the driving urge to be important. His importance will come at any cost.
He's supported by people who want that, too.
@sumpnlikefaith Then you make the tools,you create precedent.I seem to remember many times when he was granted stays on court appearances and other put-offs when they should've been going for the jugular and not treated him as if they were merely chasing up a few parking tickets.He had a lot of leeway given to him that an ordinary citizen just wouldn't have got. @ZonaPellucida