this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2024
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Trump in 2016:

She shouldn't be allowed to run.
If she were to win this election, it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
In that situation we could very well have a sitting president under felony indictment and ultimately a criminal trial.
It would grind the government to a halt.

Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/donald-trump-trial-guilty-hillary-clinton-b2556563.html

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[–] [email protected] 263 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Trump criticizes Trump yet again.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Republicans always criticize themselves heavily. Just don’t do anything about it though.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Republicans mostly do the criticizing through projection.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That brings back memories! Looks like that sub shut down in Nov. 2022.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 months ago

Guess the novelty kinda wore off after the hundred-millionth time.

[–] [email protected] 126 points 5 months ago (2 children)

This won't do anything. His base doesn't care. They treat this like a sports team. He's still "their" guy. The Cleveland Browns have a rapist as their quarterback. Despite everyone in Cleveland not being a fan of his extraciricular activities, I have seen no boycotts. I've seen no reduction in Browns gear here in Cleveland. I've seen no reason to believe that we've shown our front office that we won't stand for a rapist on the team.

It's the same with trump/republicans. They've had several, countless even, oppertunities to exit the highway down the road that is trump. The fact that he emerged in 2016 as the republican nominee at all still feels like it was decided by a round of plinko.

They should have looked at him from before 2016 and said no. They could have exited anytime between 2017-2021. They could have exited over J6. They could have exited in the aftermath of J6.

They stayed on the highway that whole time. They aren't getting off. They're going to ride that highway until they drive off a cliff at the end.

And in that sense, this article/post/video is nothing but a feel good moment for everyone else that ultimately doesn't do, or change ANYTHING. Remember, he JUST claimed he never said "lock her up". His base is unphased.

[–] [email protected] 42 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (10 children)

I have no credibility or relevant qualifications. I'm just some random moron on the internet, but here's my opinion:

His base has been manipulated. They have a sunken cost. Each time something new and horrible comes out about Donald Trump, they have to either be OK with it or come to terms with the idea that they may have been wrong about him this whole time. They'll react emotionally to this dilemma as if being wrong in this case would constitute a personal attack on their character.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago (2 children)

With every new lie he tells or every new horrible thing he does, his supporters are forced to embrace it. And it just compounds. If they question him now, that would mean they'd have to question the hundreds of other things about him they've accepted.

So if he says "the sky is green" then they have to accept it as fact. Because if they question it, then they have to question if he told the truth about getting a fair trial, and then they have to question if he actually tried to cover up sleeping with a porn star, then they have to question if he slept with a porn star, etc etc all the way back for at least a decade. It's much easier just to accept the latest small lie than question everything you've believed for so long.

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[–] [email protected] 59 points 5 months ago (2 children)

When I see comments talking about how pointless it is to continue pointing out his hypocritical actions I immediately write that person off as a bot.

If you're struggling to figure out why it's important to show this to his stupid constituents then I don't understand why you're even commenting. Sit back and let the people interested in effecting change spread this information and shut the fuck up.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (17 children)

I think it should definitely be pointed out, constantly, how much of a hypocrite and liar Trump is, just to get it (and keep it) on the record. Ignoring it would only normalize it more. And maybe some fence sitters didn't know about it and now they do. Which is a good thing.

At the same time, however, I also believe it's absolutely pointless, if your goal is to convince any of his followers. They already know all of this and they don't care. They don't love him despite the lies and hypocrisy. They love him because of it. And even if they don't like it per se, they still won't turn against him, because they're accepting way worse and nothing has been a deal breaker so far.

Edit: I have often wondered what Trump would have to do for his followers to abandon him. Is there anything they wouldn't accept?

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[–] [email protected] 54 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I think notorious waffler Lindsey Graham has proved conclusively that showing them their own hypocrisy is absolutely and completely pointless. They don't care. They want theirs in power and they don't give a shit how they get them there or what they've done before they got there. That's why they can scream about non-existent child molesters and pedophiles on the left while voting for right wingers who've been actually found to be such.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I want you to use my words against me. If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, 'Let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination,' and you could use my words against me and you'd be absolutely right.

-Lindsay "nothing I say matters" Graham

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 5 months ago

"F-F-FAKE NeWs"

-- MAGA

[–] [email protected] 50 points 5 months ago (3 children)

My take-away, here, is that 8 years ago he could actually form a sentence.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago

YouTube popped up a suggestion for a video of Obama being asked about cynicism and my god... I forgot what it was like to have a president who actually had a grasp of the English language and enough functioning neurons to actually speak...

Now we have Donnie Depends and Onion on his belt Biden...

It would be nice if we could have a president that doesn't have first hand memories of the war of 1812...

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Here's hoping he gets a sentence on 7/11.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Trump has the power of making people drop any form of morals or values, even after called out by his own words. True cult leader stuff.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago

If trump gets them to drop their morals, then they never really any in the first place.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Omg who cares. He lies and says literally opposite things from previous things every single day. It makes no difference. He's a shit human and no one is going to see this one example and think. "hmm maybe has had him pegged wrong.." just vote in nov please.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Now now. He said the felony indictment would create a constitutional crisis. The trial would grind government to a halt. His trial's over, he's already been convicted. Completely different situation.

Sarcasm aside, I don't expect this to matter much. Pointing out the hypocrisy never seems to do anything. Maybe hopefully it'll peel off some hesitant voters on the margins, but will it cause the party to change course in any substantial way? I doubt it.

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago (1 children)

His good buddy, Viktor Orbán, said that "any prime minister, who makes the Euro go over HUF300 should resign" not only made the Euro go over 300 in the first few months, but nowadays we often hit the 400 mark, basically nullifying most of the wage increase we got, many of which was in the form of "presence bonuses", meaning you get an extra paycheck if you don't go to day offs unless the factory is shut down, and don't use any sick leaves or go to the doctor - imagine what it did during the pandemic.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

Add his opinion on media monopoly to the mix back when he was in opposition, sprinkle it with some claims of dancing to the Russians' tune, and decorate it with a pinch of concerns about how a government increasing divide and tensions can only expect to be washed away by the same radicalised masses.

Suddenly the supporters become politically sensitive and open to nuances and grab every opportunity to highlight the difference in cultural and political context (of him back then and now). Bring up literally anything else and the only thing they can regurgitate is the exact words of their dumbed down propaganda.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Landscape video in a portrait video in a landscape video... I'm watching that on a portrait oriented screen. Am I the only one who finds that ridiculous?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago

Also this post should've just been a link to the video. I don't know how some journalists are employed when they can barely write a paragraph that somehow manages to tell you less than the title.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago

"Nononono, not like that" - republiKKKlowns

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Hopefully his clips saying this end up in some anti maga video ads.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 5 months ago (3 children)

I think this a good sanity check for us all to remember the kind of person Trump is and what's at stake. But we can't stop with clever gotchas, we need to defeat the fascist ideas that the MAGA movement runs on. Trump will be gone one day, but fascist movements will persist until we defeat their ideas. Fascism is a self-destructive ideology that in the long term benefits no one. Everyone needs to know that.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Jesus fuck, stop playing this "gotcha!" game. This is dumb. He doesn't give a shit about consistency. He'll straight up lie about something he said yesterday. Who are you convincing with this?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 months ago

Someone should grab him by his felonies.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Different question. How is it that in the USA it is legal to run for president when you are a convicted felon? I mean you obviously do not qualify for the job.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Same reason felons can vote; if being a criminal removes your ability to participate in the political process then the government suddenly has a very strong incentive to criminalize their political opponents.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 months ago

Afaik the idea is that you want to avoid someone to be able to convict their opponents. So make it impossible to take them out using the legal system. Makes total sense to me.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (4 children)

I think the reasoning is that otherwise opponents can block political candidates by using the justice system. The opposite of what's happening now.

The founding fathers haven't theorized that this particular situation could happen.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The founding fathers haven’t theorized that this particular situation could happen.

Which you can't even blame them for, honestly. Who in the 18th century would have thought a huge chunk of the country would want a known despot?

[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (6 children)

Who in the 18th century would have thought a huge chunk of the country would want a known despot?

Well there is the French 16 th century thinker Etienne de la Boétie who wrote a discourse on voluntary servitude in which he argued that men do tend to simp for tyrants over being free a lot of the time:

The essay argues that any tyrant remains in power while his subjects grant him that, therefore delegitimizing every form of power. The original freedom of men would be indeed abandoned by society which, once corrupted by the habit, would have preferred the servitude of the courtier to the freedom of the free man, who refuses to be submissive and to obey.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Tiktok did that? I wish somebody had called YouTube to film it live.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (25 children)

Hey everyone, we've finally done it, we've found the one quote that will make trumpets see reason!

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