I am living in the middle of a red state, and even the bluest of my neighbors don’t seem to think that the president will have any direct effect on their lives.
In reflecting on the previous term prior to Biden, I only remember the gish gash assault of horrifying news day after day, but struggle to conjure the major issues I took umbrage with.
I am left with general issues, but lack the specifics to engage in actual discourse.
I remember the immigration stance was horrifying, but the previous administrations wasn't substantially better in my recollection.
I know the Mueller report indicated there was major collusion with America's adversaries, which was intertwined with disgusting foreign policy.
There was also the depleting of America's coffers, as our national debt skyrocketed, which likely coincided with his cronyism and the issues with the emoluments clause.
That was coupled with the complete mockery of the justice system, with obvious corruption in every entanglement he had.
All of these issues point to my view of the administration as corrupt, self-serving, and power hungry, but none of that serves as exact examples that I can have in my pocket when speaking with apathetic blue voters and red-voting neighbors.
They are unlikely to be swayed by the Martin Niemöller "First they came for the Communists and I did not speak out” line of reasoning.
Is there a list of exact tangible examples I can point to, as to why the current administration is so much of a disaster for the everyday citizen?
*As an aside, it seems to me every administration following the New Deal economic plan has made it a pet project to reverse it an reclaim any power ceded to the working class.
All of the policies that allowed a vibrant middle class have been whittled away. Public education, trade unions protections like the Fair Labor Act, social security, accessible healthcare, etc., have been constantly attacked since initially gaining any leeway in the 1930's.
Decreased government protections and funding for the working class, to me, are obvious negatives to be pointed to, but are not so obvious to those entwined in the current hegemonic narrative.
Are there obvious points I could be making that would provide clarity to my contempt with the current situation?
just read Project 2025. his administration was kind enough to list it all out on there for us. have a Xanax handy.
Well, for starters, he carried out the single worst attack on American itself in its history: Jan 6th, 2021. Pearl Harbor and 9/11 didn’t attack America’s beating heart. Jan 6th did.
At least hundreds of thousands of people died from covid, who would have lived otherwise, specifically because of his non-response to covid, and his whiny toddler hissy fit decision to destroy the pandemic response team, just because Obama created it.
The fact is, you don’t need more reasons. There are tons and tons more, but it might be better to leave it at these two to give the crimes their proper emphasis. The first, only an enemy of America would do. The second, only an enemy of the species would do.
I don’t live in the US.
He is cashing in on all the goodwill the US has built up in the western world since the 1942.
Americans who never left the US don’t get this but soon the US will lose its international relevance and the age of American-driven world peace (yes, there were a lot of wars since 1945 but none on a continental scale) is coming to an end. Trump just does not understand how making the whole world trade with the USA made the USA the superpower it is today
It’s like boiling a frog. You won’t know that life has changed until there’s no way back.
You’ve already lost abortion rights, that’s the kind of thing that’s going to keep happening. By systematically infecting places like the Supreme Court, EPA, FCC, FDA, CIA, FBI, etc. one by one you’re losing protections that have been built up over generations.
Laws and policies are changed, staffing is changed, and long after the Orange has gone you’re left with those legacies.
The changes are insidious and sometimes almost imperceptible, but make no mistake, they’re happening.
Will you personally notice? Maybe not. Will the world? Yes it definitely will.
Having said that, this is not the first despot in office and unless he blows us all up, it won’t be the last. In other words, this too shall pass, perhaps not in our lifetimes, but it will pass.
Edit: Forgot to mention the for want of a better word, “emboldened effect”, people who are bigoted, racist and mysogonistic suddenly feeling able to be “heard”. People like Elmo, making Nazi salutes, people who when the day of reckoning comes will attempt to defend themselves with “I was just following orders”.
Insidious is a good word for it.
Though, I worry that we are not as resilient as you might imply. America left World War II with half the world’s wealth, a healthy middle class, and was responsible for half the world’s manufacturing.
As a result, even with all of that wealth being transferred, we were wealthy enough as a country that the full effects of the wealth transfer have not been felt in its entirety.
With The US ostensibly transferring into late-stage capitalism, and the consequential income inequality, I am not as optimistic as you in our recovery from despotism.
The stink may fade, but the stain will stain endure much longer, so to say
Check out some of the links listed under the resources section.
https://old.reddit.com/r/Keep_Track/wiki/index
This one is pretty close to what I think you’re asking for. https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-complete-listing-atrocities-1-1-056
That second link is perfect!
Skimming through it, I have come to the realization that it probably would not have affected my most recent conversations.
They were talking about it like Kanye fans talk about his episodes. They ignore the insanity and keep on enjoying life as if it never happened.
The immigration policies don’t affect them, the coronavirus debacle is over to them (and largely blamed on Biden). The cronyism is looked at as part of politics
Roe versus Wade is the only one that directly had an impact, and now is taken as a fact of life.
I don’t know what it will take, but I will keep the visual list of atrocities in my back pocket whenever the need arises.
Thanks!
It would also be interesting to see this kind of list for all the other Presidents we’ve had throughout our history. While I doubt many of them would compare, it would be useful as a point of comparison and historical record.
I feel like a good [Behind the Bastards ](http://www.behind.com/ the Bastards | iHeart https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/) episode is warranted for every president starting from Washington on down the list.
We could just make bullet point summaries of each episode
not quite the same but someone made a community keeptrack whose purpose is to make a record of what trump does since we know from last time its like a constant stream of stuff making hard to, well, keep track.
I’m familiar with the community, but it’s almost the exact opposite of what I’m trying to find.
I followed that community when it was on Reddit, and it was a homogenized mess of snide remarks he made, blended in with actual terrible policy decisions. There was nothing concise about it.
We all know he is a terrible person, doing terrible things, but that is not apparent to most of the people I am encountering in red states.
I am looking for a practical list of tangible reasons why he is a contemptible president.
Just watch the prices rise after he implements tariffs.
In current conversations, it is hard to point towards potential future economic policies when inflation and the cost of living was so extreme in the Biden administration.
In a conversation I had just prior to the election, one of his supporters commented to me “things were just better before Biden. I could afford groceries back then…”
You and I know there is nuance to this. Economic policies and infrastructure investment both have delayed effects to see the benefit, often not occurring until the next president is in office. That, and the fact that it’s hard to hold corporate greed and Wall Street accountable without a super majority.
None of that helps to keep in your back pocket during casual discourse though.
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