Americans take note: they're starting the purge with their allies. What do you think Trump and his minions will do if they retake power over the entire country?
Trump has had 4 years to put together a revenge plan. Everyone loves to call him stupid, but he and his team can plan things for stupid purposes. He will purge the federal government he cannot directly profit from. That will have profound downstream effects and harm.
thing is, it's not so much that they're stupid as they're inept.
Trump et al are cunning, like an animal. they have an instinct to strike out and get what they want. what they are not, however, is clever. many people mistake cunning and clever for being the same thing, but they're not. cleverness requires the ability to plan ahead and to be able to competently execute said plan effectively, and, often, Trump and his allies cannot do this, or, at least, often fail to do so effectively.
because they're incompetent, inept, and, often, because they're idiots.
Since it takes skill to build something, but even an idiot can burn it down through incompetence, they are a threat whether the people wanting to tear down the system are competent or not.
Hell, they might be more dangerous because they are idiots who appeal to idiots.
I love that invariably conversations about Trump all end up acknowledging he is awful, then disagreeing in exactly what kind of awful he is.
More to the point, a whole bunch of evil people a lot smarter than Trump have had 4 years to put together a plan. That one's not just for revenge, though; that's for turning the US into a full-blown dictatorship.
Brink?
Where's John McCain, John Bohner, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy?
The purge happened a decade ago in the House. That's what the fucking problem is. Do you seriously think the Party of George W. Bush / John McCain would be helping Russia right now?
Well John McCain is... Not around for obvious reasons. But you can also add John Kasich, Liz Cheney, and Mike Pence to the list.
You could probably replace John McCain with Mitt Romney? He has somewhat recently voiced dissatisfaction IIRC.
Actually, hell, Darth Cheney himself is still somehow alive. He can't be happy with the way his dream of American exceptionalism has turned out with respect to the current state of the Republican party.
It is a purge, just without all the messy killing. But there's a reason why Stalin finished the job the way he did, and why Putin operates the way he has. There is an entire generation of political experts who are getting thrown out of the party they have supported their entire lives. Where will they go?
Also note that candidates that Trump personally endorses tend not to do that well. Some do win, of course, but not as many. Mitch has been bemoaning "candidate quality" as the reason why he doesn't have a majority in the Senate.
One of my favorite conspiracy theories of the moment is that if Trump wins, he would prefer to take office with a fully Democratic Congress, because it makes for better TV. And when he does absolutely nothing, he can blame the Democrats for it. Trump only needs 34 Senators on his side to vote against impeachment, and he can do whatever the fuck he wants without consequences.
Purges don't need to be associated with violence, per se. That's just how Stalin and Hitler liked them. You can also simply throw them out of their positions though, so they can no longer stand against you.
Still a purge. Corporations sometimes do purges.
Sometimes
Looks at the 300,000 people laid off in tech this year alone...
This is the dress rehearsal. Remember that your broken brained relatives, if they are reachable, are probably only reachable by YOU. It might be uncomfortable, but if Aunt Pat or Uncle Frank live in a swing state, you should think about trying to talk to them about how they'll irreparably break the future for you and your kids if they don't wake the fuck up.
To all those in the GOP that cinicly thought they could ride the Wave of Fascism and come out unscathed:
You failed. Inevitably.
Enjoy being dragged to the Gallows you eagerly helped raising.
You will only be missed, because MAGA is slightly worse then you.
Turns out the party of lying about virtually everything in order to funnel money to the rich couldn't figure out how to separate itself from the lies of populism when the liar in chief came along. They had no mechanism to say wait, not those lies, only these lies.
Most of y'all never heard the word "purge" before those movies huh?
“Surely if I help with this purge, I’ll get to stay cozy and secure in my position after, because there won’t be any more in the future”
I'm pretty sure this is how Sadam Hussein rose to power, too.
*The Purge
Okay - dumb European, that doesn't really understand the finer details of the defacto two party system in the U.S.: Why don't those former members of the RNC "just" from a new party?
Answer from Canadian: They can but the Republican name is what lots of people will just vote for. That's why the Trumpers want it too instead of making their own party.
*They also know if they split the right wing vote between two parties, the Democrats will win.
For a time, yes. But with 3+ you start having to form aliances, negotiate, compromise, and you know... Do politics.
In theory at least
I doubt the party that just split will cooperate together.
But really with FPTP they will lose big.
LET THE BODIES HIT THE
FLOOOOOOR
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