No Stupid Questions

It all depends on whether they’re competent and can act together for their goals. Many of those goals are truly horrible, but

• Trumps first term was incompetent, fractured. Despite all the chaos and destruction, they did nowhere near as much damage to peoples lives and democracy as they wanted to
• My conservative brother is all too typical, dismissing the worst statements as “he’s not serious. He’d never do that”. We have to hope people like my brother are right
• their goal is narcissism and their methods are stoking outrage: is it possible they’re not actually evil, don’t actually pay attention to what comes out of their own mouths? Are they even capable of working together? Making Trump rich and stoking his ego would be a travesty, but far less damaging than what he says he’ll do

Its hard to say cuz hes so unstable, but since his party has been hijacked by his sycophants and own the three branches, id guess some crazy shit. Maybe this will finally make the americans understand that voting has consequences, and that some minimal homework is needed to choose. But honestly no one on this planet has any faith in the average american so i predict ww3, mass incarceration with slavery (woops already has been happening, but for even more ppl), demonization of any minority, and a general loss of wealth that will be vacuumed by the upper class. Man I cant believe you guys let trump hire Elon fking Musk, hope you guys like living like one of his employees.

The goal is to remake the US into something else. A Christian Patriarchy + Oiligarchy with sham voting every four years. The biggest wild card in their plans is Trump, but as long as he gets to pretend he's Putin 2.0 -- which literally means being able to point his finger to see someone killed -- he'll be happy and easy to play.

Overall, there's no limit to how fucked we are. There are no brakes and there's no steering wheel.

Think militias deputized as enforcers.

Think protests put down by the military ordered to shoot to kill.

Think indoctrination of children and political/militaristic organizations for teens.

Think history books rewritten, science education dumbed down, evolution and global warming illegal to even mention.

Think marriage rights taken away.

Think voting rights taken away and voting laws rammed through to ensure Republicans win.

Think Republicans getting enough state legislatures both to call a Constitutional Convention and to ratify a slew of amendments to rework citizenship, enshrine Christianity into the constitution, and generally butcher the Bill of Rights.

Think "real Americans" going after and imprisoning and/or killing hundreds, thousands, millions of other Americans.

Think purity tests and identification papers, total surveillance, digital tracking of every word and action and movement.

Think of your street with a dead body in the middle of it and everyone afraid to go near it.

Think of being terrified for your own life if you accidentally hear someone say something against The Party.

Think of this very comment used as evidence to lock me up or have me killed.

There is nothing, nothing at all, standing in their way. Like in most one-party systems, the competition among the players will be to see how extreme they can get in order to prove themselves to their party, while the rest of us who vainly hope they'll show restraint will pay the price.

I hope I'm wrong about most of the above. It may not get that bad. But, again, we've gone over the cliff and there's nowhere but a helluva lot of straight down.

This is going to create the political order we will live under for the rest of our lives.

It's fucked. But it's been fucked for a long time. You just didn't see it until the other day. It's like the foaming at the mouth from rabies. By the time you get that far, it's too late. But that animal bite months ago, and itching and fever were the warning signs, and everybody ignored it.

II think it's entirely possible the world is fucked. Climate crisis won't come during his 2nd administration, but the 4 years we lose in national and international regulation is going to make it impossible to prevent.

It'll be slow, but before 2061, I expect the death of the global Internet, and global shipping, and most air travel. Electrical grids will fracture or fail and the pieces used for smaller (at most regional) grid. Cities won't be able to maintain the sewer pumps, and Cholera will start killing people again. Gas lines will stop maintaining pressure.

I don't plan on sticking around that long. My BP has always been bad, so I figure just indulging my vices will make this no my problem, and I don't have a partner or descendants.

If you prefer not embracing despair, I suggest looking into how you and your dearest can survive without infrastructure. Local food production, local power and medicine production. Don't count on supplies you can't retrieve within a day of travel, and don't count on the state to maintain roads. "Solarpunk" might be a good search term. Also, might prepare for unpredictable shifts in the local climate, like preferring indoor growing.

If anyone has data that says we can avoid climate collapse with no new national or international regulation before 2029, I'd love to hear it. Please.

I think a lot of bad things will happen, but the biggest problem will be that all vaccination everywhere ends, so millions of children die, and it'll be another pandemic crisis.

From the wiki on Project 2025:

Critics have characterized Project 2025 as an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan to steer the U.S. toward autocracy.[14][16][17][18] Legal experts have said it would undermine the rule of law,[19] separation of powers,[7] separation of church and state,[20] and civil liberties.[7][19][21]

"It proposes criminalizing pornography and imprisoning those who produce it,[34][35] removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,[35][36] and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs[7][36] while having the DOJ prosecute "anti-white racism" instead"

What happened to the Iranian left after 1979's revolution:

The Iranian left played a significant role in the 1979 revolution but was ultimately suppressed and marginalized by Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamist forces in the aftermath. Here's an overview of what happened to leftist groups after the revolution:

Initial Collaboration and Support

Many leftist groups initially supported and collaborated with Khomeini's movement to overthrow the Shah:

• Various Marxist-Leninist, socialist, and communist organizations participated in the revolutionary coalition[5].
• Some leftist groups like the Tudeh Party (pro-Soviet communists) and Fedayeen (urban guerillas) attracted many student members[5].
• The leftist-Islamist group Mujahedin also gained significant support among students[5].
• Many leftists viewed Khomeini's movement as anti-imperialist and hoped to push it in a more progressive direction[1].

Gradual Suppression

However, Khomeini and his allies soon moved to sideline and suppress leftist forces:

• In March 1979, Khomeini declared "do not use this term, 'democratic.' That is the Western style," signaling his opposition to liberal and leftist ideals[2].
• The National Democratic Front (a leftist group) was banned in August 1979[2].
• Universities were purged of leftist influence starting in March 1980[2].
• By early 1981, the government had closed MEK (People's Mujahedin) offices, banned their newspapers, and issued arrest warrants for their leaders[2].

Violent Crackdown

The suppression of the left intensified into violent persecution:

• Between 1981-1985, nearly 8,000 political opponents were executed, many of them leftists[3].
• In 1988, a "Death Committee" oversaw the mass execution of leftist prisoners[1].
• Overall, the Islamic Republic's crackdown on dissent was far more brutal than the Shah's regime, which had executed fewer than 100 political prisoners between 1971-1979[3].

Reasons for Failure

Several factors contributed to the left's inability to maintain influence:

• Lack of unity and organization among moderate and radical leftist factions[2].
• Underestimation of the conservatism of the Iranian masses[2].
• The left's secular ideology conflicted with the religious fervor driving much of the revolution[1].
• Khomeini's skillful co-opting of leftist anti-imperialist and social justice rhetoric into an Islamist framework[3][4].

Legacy

By the end of 1979, the "secular middle class" and liberals had been largely sidelined, leaving mainly Islamist factions in power[2]. The suppression of the left helped consolidate the Islamic Republic's hold on power and narrowed the range of acceptable political ideologies in Iran[3]. However, some leftist ideas around social justice and anti-imperialism were incorporated into the Islamic Republic's ideology, albeit in a religious framework[4].

Citations: [1] Ideology and Iran's Revolution: How 1979 Changed the World https://institute.global/insights/geopolitics-and-security/ideology-and-irans-revolution-how-1979-changed-world [2] Aftermath of the Iranian revolution - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath_of_the_Iranian_Revolution [3] Four decades later, did the Iranian revolution fulfill its promises? https://www.brookings.edu/articles/four-decades-later-did-the-iranian-revolution-fulfill-its-promises/ [4] What Iran's 1979 revolution meant for the Muslim Brotherhood https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-irans-1979-revolution-meant-for-the-muslim-brotherhood/ [5] How Iran's Theocrats Allied With — and Then Crushed — the Left https://jacobin.com/2022/10/chahla-chafiq-iranian-left-khomeini-protests-feminism [6] Iranian Revolution | Summary, Causes, Effects, & Facts - Britannica https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution

Prices on everything will go up exponentially while income comes down. Worker protections won't exist and the people in charge of your health, whether food, medical, other goods, will only care about which company gives them a bigger check.

Remember how baby food had to be recalled recently because it was unsafe to feed babies? That ain't happening anymore! Fuck the babies! And if you can't afford your $4k/month rent, to prison with you (because homelessness will be illegal and prison labour cheap cheap cheap!)

It's business as usual.

I feel like the U.S. is becoming similar to Russia. For example, we are seeing an autocratic strongman holding the highest office and only vaguely behaving within the democratic system, with a clear intent to rule unilaterally with a congress and Supreme Court that are less checks and more support for maintaining the power base. And as generations continue to experience this way of life, America as a society will forget what it was like for the past 250 years where both parties respected the system with peaceful transfer of power.

It’s sad, but fascinating in a kind of slow motion train crash to be alive for.

Not just the US, the entire planet.

For example: Ukraine Gaza Taiwan South Korea

Ugh, just thinking about the ripple effect that this is going to cause is makes me want to curl up in a corner.

At least 200%, it's the end of an era.

More fucked than BREXIT.

The US will continue ticking. Money keeps flowing, and greed will continue running rampant.

As someone making a bank and based on the projections, the Trump tax changes are going to pay well. Anyone making less than $100k, or living off of social security or retirement are going to really suffer.

The Trump tax breaks are going to fund a future international trip. And poor folks will starve.

Btw I voted for Kamala. And America voted for a old dude who struggles to form sentences.

One of the biggest things is that the "deep state", an innocuous thing turned into a convenient boogeyman by trump, will be quietly destroyed. This is the thing that actually keep your mail arriving, your food edible and your children's toys not coated in lead. The "deep state", meaning actual subject matter experts doing their jobs throughout entire government for years, regardless of current administration, are all going to be replaced by kid rock and vaping young republicans fresh from dropping out of their second semester in at The University of Southern Alabama State.

That's who's going to be the dude inspecting your meat for e.coli and signing off on the clinical trials for your perception meds - Gunner, Hunter and Ryder.

Really don't think anyone is considering the reality of how deeply fucked we're going to be as we're all fixed fully on the front door for obvious signs of trouble (immediate societal decay), while these broken cartoon villains fill the crawlspace with fertilizer and gasoline and kick in the backdoor with flamethrowers in hand.

We're fucked, and we're going to be focused on monitoring the wrong indicators of how fucked, until it is just beyond any repair within any of our lifetimes. For example, you're going to have FIVE fundamentally broken people on the Supreme Court for the rest of your life. It's over.

Luckily the House of representatives have set up the rules such that they can call to change their majority leader whenever they disagree with each other, so very few actual policies will change. They might even fail to pass their own tax plan again, that would be nice.

What is fucked is USA's allies depending on support from NATO, USA's economy as Tariff season is here now, USA immigrants, and of course the Environment. Last time Trump was in he removed protections for forests and streams, and put a Coal Lobbyist in charge of the EPA.

Sounds like my country. We have bit better prisons if I happen to snap some day :D

Fucked regardless but how fucked remains to be seen. Just as before, Trump will spend his presidency golfing, what really matters are his cabinet picks. Best case scenario is that just like 2016-2020 in-fighting and general incompetence make the administration a revolving door and keep the Christian Nationalist from realizing their darkest ambitions. Worst Case is that the Fascist have learned from their mistakes. I also think Trump either dying or being forced to step down (with a pardon of course) is a possibility that is on the table. Vance is a much more competent Fascist and this is definitely a worst case scenario.

Regardless, I think there are a few things that are guaranteed to happen:

• The dismantling of much of the Federal Government. Starve the Beast will finally come to fuition. The Department of Eduction, the FDA, The EPA, ect will become toothless if not entirely abolished. De-regulation will bring us back to early 20th century levels of consumer protection and quality control. Read "The Jungle" to get an idea. Public Health is going to tank dramatically.
• The little safety net Americans have will be pulled out from under them. Workers will be entirely beholden to their employers. The price of most consumer goods will surge, bankruptcy from healthcare cost will skyrocket, and homelessness will become even more common. Homelessness will become completely criminalized and the % of the American population imprisoned will make today's prison population look small.
• The police and surveillance state will be expanded dramatically with the intent of targeting undesirables. Immigrants will be deported, while Trans people and political dissidents will be labeled as sexual criminals and will be eliminated. As time marches on more groups will be targets for the state. People around you will simply disappear sometimes, victims of secret police.
• An increase in media censorship by morality police. Pornography will be banned, and using that vague label media critical of the regime or expressing ideas against the regimes interest will be censored.
• The US will pull out of NATO and pursue a policy of isolation. Authoritarian and expansionist regimes around the world will be allowed to pursue their interests unchecked.
• A general brain-drain as educated people with the means to do so flee to Canada or Europe. As time passes it is likely that emigration from America will be made more difficult by the state, effectively stranding people here who didn't get out soon enough.
• We will completely miss the window to do anything to avoid the worst-case scenarios for climate change. So it's not just America that's fucked here.

Smoke em while you got em, it's about to get rough for everyone. We are in the death throes of the Neo-Liberal world order. Buy a firearm and get a vpn. Keep your vehicle as fueled as you can, and if you are able keep a sizable amount of cash stored somewhere safe. There's never been a better time to go vegan and get in shape. Do what you can for the people you care about.