Welcome to Political Humor!
Rules:
I sit here sadly recalling similar pictures of Bush II vs. anti-war protests.
Afghanistan still got fucked. Iraq still got fucked. Our privacy rights got fucked. And the Republican plan to divide and conquer continued apace.
I am happy we got out there yesterday. I am worried just like last time we will let them get away with it.
Could we not? Let's celebrate yesterday's achievement. We had a day where Idaho, fucking Idaho, filled their capitol. It remained peaceful so trump couldn't do a military coup as well. Let's take the win.
I want the win to mean something. The only concern that I think is valid so far is that there do not appear to be (m)any elected officials backing any policy in specific tandem with these protests.
I just don't want to see popular sentiment and political movement crash out into nothingness and a backlash like Occupy Wall Street.
Read this for info about the purpose of the recent protests within the greater resistance.
Thanks for posting this.
For the would-be dictator, success depends on projecting power and creating an aura of inevitability. They need you to believe that Trump is the new normal, that the MAGA movement will be in power for the long haul, that the only rational move is to go along, keep your head down, and protect your own interests.
In short, it requires a countless number of people in a countless number of places to do something that the Trump regime doesn’t want them to do, or to NOT do something the Trump regime wants them to do. That’s how we shake off the aura of inevitability and halt the autocratic breakthrough.
For that to happen, people need to feel like we’re part of something bigger. We need to understand that we’re part of a movement. We need to feel like we will win.
Yes, the U.S. has a history of letting its politicians get away with things in the name of “moving on” and forgiveness. I think 90% of our problems are rooted in the reality that we have allowed past sins against our Bill of Rights and Consitution to go without facing justice. Not revenge, but justice:
We don’t look backwards, but look forward.
-Obama
This total lack of accountability is precisely how we got here. Those in power should be held to a higher standard, not be given a free pass for corruption.
We don’t look backwards, but look forward.
-Obama
This total lack of accountability
Is it fun to quote out of context? It seems risky if it suggests you didn't understand what he was saying about navel-gazing.
Obama was specifically referring to having no desire to prosecute W, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Wolfowitz for their egregious war crimes and lying to the American people to begin a war for plundering oil in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Given OP’s context of subverting justice for the sake of moving on, I find it extremely relevant.
Interesting to work through the counterfactual on that. A lot of people seem to forget how the early Tea Party started. An awful lot of them pretended that they weren't the same people supporting GWB all along.
So what happens if Obama does decide to prosecute members of the former admin? Does the Tea Party keep the ruse, or do they go to bat for them? How does that affect the outcome in the 2010 midterms?
Perhaps it would have made the Tea Party's astroturfing more apparent to everyone.
The US politicians have a history…
The people most often disagree with continuing this trend.
The US people put them there. They are the people's representatives. The people can't abdicate responsibility.
Yeah man. Because politicians are known for listening to what the people want when it’s in conflict with what the politician wants.
Then I'm not sure what you're fighting to keep.
Which is why it has to end. IF the Dems ever regain power again, it will be imperative to crush MAGA, and purge it from society.
I share your sentiment but with the way social media and smartphones connect us today it becomes harder and harder for them to “get away with it” when we can call out bullshit with evidence in near real time.
I’m not sure the George Floyd protests themselves were effective in the long run, but they started because one girl used a smart phone and social media to show the world what cops had been “getting away with” for centuries.
I guess my point is that the tools they use to divide us can also be used to connect us and keep us organized for a sustained movement. I’d like to see protests like yesterdays happen every day of the week till we live in a better society.
Yep. But we should also be aware that new and improved tactics using technology are being employed by the oppressors.
They will put out so many outlandish lies until people seeking truth get exhausted and feel that nothing is real. So the counter is to tune out the lies and stay grounded, stay connected, stay organized, stay focused.
Were there any anti war protests even close to that large in the US during W's administration?
Oh for sure, the protest against the Iraq war was the largest in the world up to that point. In fact, I don't think the anti-Trump protests have surpassed the Iraq war protests yet, depending on where you're talking about. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15_February_2003_anti-war_protests
That was 6-10million at 600 cities across 60 countries.
Yesterday day was 11million at 2000 locations in 1 country.
Think they have, easily.
Can you cite the source of your numbers regarding yesterday? Estimates I have seen range from 4-6M.
Also, I don't really mean to quibble, but my point is I have been here before. Unless protest continues to grow I fear we are in the same situation that happened under Bush - some protest then everything proceeds as expected.
Even if these protests were somewhat bigger than the Iraq war ones, we have no idea how big they need to be to actually change things because we haven't seen that happen in the past few decades.
ACLU put the estimate at more than 5 million, 50501 said 4-6 million, but that was based on their protests organized alone. There were many, many, many more that weren't run by 50501.
ANP gave the 11m figure yesterday.
A couple of towns near me had both a 1.5% and a 2% turnout, but a lot of small towns had as high as possibly 50%.
It's stupid hard to estimate, but 5m is on the low end (which is the estimated turnout for the Hands Off protest). I've seen 10m, 11m, 12.5m, and one report of up to 34m but that one seems a bit unlikely.
Right on! Glad to see that!
Peaceful protests are an essential staple ingredient that must be garnished with targeted violence.
Why use a photo from a 2018 protest in the bottom frame?
There's so many good photos from yesterday's protests. I mean I'm sure the people in that protest probably weren't too keen on fascism but surely it would be much more relevant to use a photo from the mass protests that occurred on the same day as the parade in the top photo? There isn't even leaves on the trees.
Liars will lie even when the truth is on their side, because they don't want people to follow them because what they say is true, they want people to follow them blindly.
Also I think whatever crowd did attend the parade was on the near side of the road, opposite the pavilion you can see in the photo.
Trumps crowd was pathetic, but this photo is disingenuous.
I feel bad for the Army because they had a legit reason to make a subdued celebratory parade for its 250th birthday but Trump had to make it about himself and turned it into something that looked like something from North Korea.
This guy was from Chinese immigrant parents. The two things trump hates the most and he is working for him. You can’t make this up.
"He didn't earn a degree" fucking LOL of course he didn't
That was the requirement to work in the WH
Hitler kept some gay people and jews in high ranking positions for a while. "One of the good ones" and all that. It's only ever a problem for them when it's someone they don't know personally.
how does someone type while simultaneously being entirely up trump's incontinent asshole and having trump's entire arm up their own muppet asshole
The only response the right gets is "pics or it didn't happen"
It was really eerie seeing that part of DC totally empty tbh
those in favor have the guns and tanks, unfortunately
And a place they sleep at night, which isn't in a tank (always)
Where were they when LA happened? What do you imagine would have happened when the nation came to a halt then? When a general strike would have brought it to its knees?
There was a large protest in my city but I also saw a counter-protest. It was like 10 pale skins with american flags and pro-ICE signs. Pathetic and gross.
So normally the cheeto doesn't let an opportunity to brag about something dumb pass by, but I haven't heard a peep about this dumb parade.
I expected at least something like "my parade was the best and biggest parade anyone has ever seen!" But instead I've only seen how sad and empty it was
So, it was quite awesome